Many recent visitors to Raglan have been amazed at the amount of construction work going on in the town. So the Raglan Website has put together a Raglan Construction Trail so people can enjoy and not miss any of the construction activities.
Driving into Raglan from SH 23, the first construction site is on the western side of the road at the Lorenzen Bay- Hills Road intersection. This grey concrete building is the new power substation being built by Livingston Construction for WEL Networks. WEL says, “WEL Networks is working hard to ensure Raglan residents and businesses have the electricity infrastructure they need.”
After admiring the WEL Networks’ substation continue on along SH 23 towards Raglan and turn left into Norrie Ave, opposite the BP service station. Drive almost to the end of Norrie Avenue and turn right into Whitley St. At the bottom of the hill you’ll see the cones and safety barriers for Waikato District Council’s sewer project. Pause and look left and you may see a pipe laying digger in action. Now turn right into Wainui Road and drive back into Raglan. You’ll see large piles of pipes and concrete sewer manholes waiting to be installed. This project known as the ‘Nero Street Wastewater Rising Main Renewal’ runs from just behind the Coast Guard Shed at the end of Wi Neera Street to Wainui Road, then along Wainui Road in front of the museum site, crossing over at Helen Place, then continuing along Wainui Road and the Opotoru Bridge, then crossing into Marine Parade, where it will join up with the existing main sewer. It was expected that the project would be completed by the 30th March 2011, but the target completion date now is 17th June. HEB Construction is building the new sewer for Waikato District Council at a cost of $450,952.
Before you leave the area of the sewer project you’ll see the new Raglan Museum & Information Centre being built by Livingston Construction for the Waikato District Council at a cost of just under $1 million. It is expected that the building will be completed by 1st August and then the Raglan Museum Society and the Information Centre will set up in the building.
Just past the museum site, stop and park in the carpark on the left just before the Fire Station. Next walk towards the water and along the footpath towards the Kopua footbridge. Here you’ll find the construction project building the replacement Kopua footbridge. The $2.6 million bridge is being built by HEB Structures for the Waikato District Council. The main construction base is on the Kopua side where HEB have built a compound to enclose their construction equipment. Up until the end of April HEB have been working on a temporary construction platform which is now being used to build the new bridge north of the temporary platform. The new bridge is 2.1 metres wide and will be finished by 30th September. Once the new bridge is built, the temporary platform will be dismantled. You can walk over the old bridge and get a close-up view of the construction work. Return to the town side and walk North towards the bottom of Bow St.
Now have lunch or a coffee in one of Raglan’s fine cafes. After lunch walk south along Wainui Road to find your car just past the Fire Station. Now turn left into Wainui Road and drive towards the main street (Bow Street). Turn left into Bow Street then right into Wallis Street. Continue along Wallis Street to the end of it just before the wharf. Park in one of the spaces opposite the Marlin Restaurant then walk towards the wharf.
Here you’ll find HEB Structures hard at work with heavy equipment repairing the original section of Raglan Wharf. Earlier this month, Waikato District Council accepted HEB’s tender of $429,723. The work involves sand blasting away weak concrete and replacing it with shotcrete. It is expected that the project will be completed by 30th June. After that replacement buildings will be built on the wharf. And after that the wharf will be able to get to work again. In the meantime check out the Tony Sly Pottery which is open everyday at the end of the green shed.
It does seem a lot of work for a small town. Hopefully the work will all be over by summer and the new facilities will be in use by then. In the meantime we hope you enjoy the Raglan Construction Trail.
I am aware submissions on the Waikato District Council Annual Plan are due on 11 May. I note that the Mayor is striving for ‘economic excellence’ and has allocated: $1million to upgrade the air-conditioning, offices for staff from Franklin and a general tidy up; $100,000 for CEO business improvement development team, around $800,000 for the vehicle fleet plus $60,000 on GPS, Rugby World Cup bid $11,000.
Close to $200,000 will be spent on tourism; the predicted visitor population is expected to reach 12,500. To meet peak visitor water demands, a contract for $270,465.52 to install water meters to all Raglan residences has been awarded to Potter Contracting Waikato Ltd.
In effect, Council is spending close to $200,000 a year attracting 10,000 visitors and ratepayers will be paying a “Targeted rate increase of 33% and Water by meter increase of 37% ($ increase from $1.08 to $1.48.)” . ”The proposed general rate increase for the former Waikato district area is 2.93 per cent.
Important to get your submission on the draft Annual Plan into WDC then. Regards, Rodger