Back
998 days ago

End in sight for Riccarton Rd roadworks, after five years and $49 million

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

More than five years after contractors first started ripping up Christchurch’s busy Riccarton Rd, the city council says no more work is planned along the 3.2-kilometre stretch.

Since September 2016, the council has spent about $49 million refurbishing and modernising the street, which stretches from Hagley Park to Church Corner.

The work has added bus and cycle lanes, made safety improvements to intersections, and replaced scores of old wastewater and water pipes that had reached the end of their usable life.

The final phase of work involves laying new pipes under a 1.7km stretch of Riccarton Rd between Matipo St and Hansons Lane.

The city council's infrastructure, planning and regulatory services general manager, Jane Davis, said this phase would be completed by the end of February.

It would take until the end of March to complete most projects in surrounding streets, she added.

“[After this], we do not have any roadworks or major maintenance planned for Riccarton Rd,” Davis said, though she pointed out that, as with any road, unplanned work could arise.

More messages from your neighbours
29 minutes ago

Can you crack Today’s neighbourhood conundrum?

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

Without a bridle or a saddle, across a thing, I ride a-straddle. And those I ride, by help of me, though almost blind, are made to see. What am I?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.

Image
T
5 hours ago

Free red bricks wanted

Trudy from Hornby

Hi everyone, I'm after free red bricks please? I'll come pick them up, no problem. Thank you 😊

12 days ago

Kalle

The Team from Humans of Christchurch Ōtautahi

"Sports and travelling run in the family, and that's kind of what's led me to come to New Zealand."

"I grew up in a small town in Finland. My dad was involved with sports all his life, he was a shot putter, discus thrower, powerlifter, we traveled quite a bit when I was a kid. He never mentioned much of the rugby days. He just said he broke both of his shin bones playing rugby, so he said, ‘never play the sport, It's crazy.’

I started playing when I was 18. I played my first cap for the Finnish national team in 2014, we won the Finnish championship with my club. Rugby is not a big thing in Finland.

I moved here to play rugby in 2017. The club that wanted me to come over was Methven Rugby Club. They got me here and they were like, ‘what do you do for work? I’d just finished chef school in Finland. ‘We'll get you a job at Mount Hutt as a chef, you can do that while you play rugby with us.’ I said, ‘Perfect. Yeah, I'm in’.

I've always loved food. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is. When I was studying tourism I worked in some hotels in Finland, and I saw how the chef's worked. I just loved the kitchen vibe and I was like, Yeah, that’d be something I'd love to do.

I've had more of a culinary journey In New Zealand than in Finland. I started at Mount Hutt, after that I worked at The Dubliner in Methven. I worked as a senior pizza chef at Sal’s for maybe six months then worked as chef de partie at Cellar Door. At Eliza's Manor, I worked myself up to a junior sous chef. Then the opportunity came to work my first head chef job at Moon Under Water.

We're privileged to have a busy atmosphere, we can try new things and get a bit creative. There are no TV’s, just come here with your family or with your mates, play board games, to socialise.

I really want to drive the local food and ingredients through the menu. We don't mind spending more for quality ingredients as long as it's supporting New Zealand businesses. We just love to use local. And it's pub food, but I feel like it's elevated.

I play club rugby here for the Christchurch Football Club, the oldest club in New Zealand and I still play regularly for the Finnish national team, whenever they can fly me over to play."

- Kalle

View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
www.humansofchch.org......

Image