From the Wellington City Council re: Infrastructure works in Newtown:

Infrastructure work in Newtown continues – we’re spending more than $4 million on the suburb, covering everything from stormwater and sewer works to improving road safety for residents.

We’ve started work to upgrade and divert a stormwater main to alleviate flooding in the area. The upgrade will see a larger stormwater main laid along Hiropi Street and then down Constable Street.

City Council Infrastructure Planning Manager Maria Archer says the work is needed because the existing 119-year-old stormwater main can’t deal with water flows in heavy rainstorms. The 300mm-diameter stormwater main running under private properties between Hiropi and Owen streets is to be shut down and replaced with a much larger 750mm main.

“The pipe drains a catchment leading up the hill to Coromandel Street and runs through a natural ‘dip’ in Hiropi Street. In recent years properties in the low-lying area have suffered substantial surface flooding when the main overflowed,” says Maria.

“Our plan is to instead dig a deep trench along Hiropi Street and then down Constable Street to the Owen Street intersection so we can link the new and bigger pipe to the Constable Street stormwater main.”

The Constable Street trench will also accommodate a section of upgraded sewer main. Unfortunately the work will mean further disruption for residents and businesses in Constable Street – which has seen major infrastructure upgrade work over the past year.

“We apologise for the inconvenience to people living and working in the area but the work is for a good cause,” says Maria. “At the same time we’re investing in traffic lights and other infrastructure to make Constable Street – one of the city’s busiest – safer for motorists and pedestrians and give local people a better chance of getting in and out of the side streets.”

The work completed, underway or planned in the area will cost a total of $4.1 million.

It includes:

• installing new traffic lights at the Constable Street intersections with Daniel, Owen and Coromandel streets as part of the local SaferRoads project
• installing new speed humps and other ‘traffic-calming’ infrastructure works in side streets as part of the SaferRoads project
• upgrading the watermain, stormwater and sewer mains running up Constable Street from Riddiford Street to Coromandel Street
• repairing an existing 150mm sewer main running under private properties between Hiropi Street and Owen Street
• upgrading the watermain from Wellington Road and Crawford Road to Coromandel Street
• upgrading the watermain running down from the Carmichael Reservoir in the Town Belt to Coromandel Street
• completely resealing Constable Street in the next financial year.

The Hiropi-Constable street work will take place from 9.00am to 4.00pm weekdays – with two traffic lanes open at all times. If you have any questions or would like further details, contact the Council on (04) 499 4444.