Bright orange noise protection walls that have been landmarks on sections of State Highway 16 and 18 northwest of Auckland for the past decade will be refurbished and repainted, the NZ Transport Agency says.
SH18, the Upper Harbour Highway, and SH16, the Northwestern Motorway, are the northern section of Auckland’s Western Ring Route which provides an alternative north-south route to going over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and through central Auckland.
The seven walls total 700 metres, and some that are no longer needed will be removed.
“One of the walls will be replaced by extending an earth bund to act as a noise barrier,” says NZTA senior manager project delivery Andrew Thackwray.
“Another wall is situated between the state highway and a local road so is not needed. A third wall was built to protect future housing, but that development is not going ahead there now.”
The walls are made of marine plywood sheets and are beginning to show their age. The remaining walls will be covered with aluminium panels and painted grey and green to match other noise walls on the road corridor.
Thackwray says local mana whenua, Te Kawerau a Maki, have endorsed the new colour scheme.
The original orange colour was a design acknowledgement of the area’s history and the ceramics and pottery industries that operated there.
The project will cost $2.1m and is expected to be finished this October.
