\u201cThe project will be broken into several segments, with our contractors moving along the road in stages. However, it is likely you will experience a fairly consistent level of noise for the duration of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter said the works would be taking place for two months between June and August, but Wellington Water clarified on Sunday that it would now only take place between June 15 and July 15.<\/p>\n
Derek Thunders\u2019 home is within the stretch of the road where work was proposed to take place.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy bedroom wall is literally on the footpath and that\u2019s the case with a lot of people. The majority of residents are bang on the roadside.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in the bottom of a gully. There\u2019s hills either side. It\u2019s one way in, one way out. It\u2019s like a little amphitheatre as well so any sound in any part of the valley just ricochets down. You hear everything.\u201d <\/p>\n
Thunders said the explanation provided by Wellington Water at Friday\u2019s meeting was that the night was the most budget-friendly time of the day to conduct the work with fewer health and safety concerns about people who may come close to the work site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way I get it but \u2013 opposed to the impact on everyone that lives in that street \u2013 that\u2019s pretty minuscule. It\u2019s not like a busy street in the heart of the day anyway,\u201d Thunders said.<\/p>\n
Fellow resident Malcom Frazer said the flyer to notify people of the work was delivered less than two weeks ahead of the scheduled start date.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a complete ambush from Wellington Water. It\u2019s going to keep me up all night and essentially cause fatigue in my day job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frazer said he couldn\u2019t understand why it wasn\u2019t possible to do the work during the daytime.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made a number of suggestions, none of which have really been taken on board, and I think they\u2019re overstating the time restrictions that traffic management will take during the day. <\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot see why it can\u2019t happen. They close roads in Wellington all the time. It\u2019s entirely possible, it\u2019s more convenient for them to do it at night and that\u2019s the crux of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frazer said he\u2019d endured previous works in nearby Raroa Rd and had appealed successfully to the contracting firm to be provided with alternative accommodation.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a personal level \u2013 if they have to do it at night \u2013 I need to be able to sleep and they should be providing me with a situation where I can sleep, ie somewhere to go and stay while the work\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe squeaky wheel gets the oil because a lot of people aren\u2019t going to have the confidence to squeak and yet they\u2019re still going to have major effects,\u201d Frazer said.<\/p>\n
He said he was prepared to interrupt workers if disruptions were intolerable and believed the community would stand behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a number of ideas and I believe there\u2019ll be a lot of support out in the community and beyond the Holloway Road community, particularly as this is going to impact other roads in the future. We need to stand together and actually stand up for our rights really,\u201d Frazer said.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Wellington Water said it acknowledged residents\u2019 concerns and apologised for the inconvenience caused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we have worked to minimise impacts, it is not possible to complete this work without some disruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur approach balances reducing impacts, ensuring safety, and delivering value for ratepayers. Traffic management and noise control plans have been reviewed and approved by Wellington City Council, and we will continue to engage constructively with residents throughout the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
It said it understood concerns about night works.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaytime work would be preferable, but site-specific factors require work to be completed at night. Holloway Road carries high levels of pedestrian, cycle, and vehicle traffic during the day. The works take place around manholes in the centre of the road, making it difficult to maintain a safe lane width.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo let people and traffic through, all work will need to be paused so the site can be made secure. This is a considerable disruption to work on site.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Wellington Water spokesperson said wastewater pipes beneath the road were over 100 years old and were at risk of breaking or allowing stormwater into the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could result in untreated wastewater overflowing into streets, private property, parks, and reserve land \u2013 posing risks to public health and the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking at night, when traffic is lighter, reduces disruption and overall time on site. Daytime works could take more than twice as long, increasing both costs and the duration of inconvenience for residents. It also reduces distractions and disruptions for workers, keeping them safer onsite,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
They said the noisiest parts of the project \u2013 such as installing new manholes and a short section of open trenching \u2013 would be conducted early in the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work to communicate timing to residents. For most of the project, noise will be limited to a steady hum from relining equipment, which is quieter than alternative methods such as open trench excavation,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
They said workers would take steps to reduce noise, including using acoustic blankets and proactively monitoring noise levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage residents to contact Wellington City Council if they believe noise levels are excessive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said council traffic and infrastructure staff were \u201con standby and ready to help\u201d if Wellington Water decided to shift the work to daytime hours.<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe project will be broken into several segments, with our contractors moving along the road in stages. However,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[179899,1975,16574,179900,170265,80603,4486,111,43,139,32256,69,1118,6507,530,25535,52,15146],"class_list":["post-476239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-anya","tag-at","tag-bill","tag-fielding","tag-furious","tag-hickman","tag-month","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-noisy","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-overnight","tag-residents","tag-waters","tag-wellington","tag-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}