Fulton Hogan unveils how their company overcame a series of geothermal challenges when constructing the East Taupo Arterial

Online, June 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - (SAN DIEGO, CA) - In an interview with Construction Digital, Project Manager Andrew McRae discusses how civil contracting firm Fulton Hogan is building the 16-kilometer East Taupo Arterial in Taupo, New Zealand despite a number of geothermal challenges. The bypass includes two main structures, a 440 meter bridge and the Waikato River Crossing. The larger of the two bridges crosses a steam field, which forced of Fulton Hogan to design one long, elevated bridge that would allow the client to cross over the land rather than buying it. The Waikato River Crossing is a network arch bridge-the second of its kind of in New Zealand.

Since construction of the bypass began in 2008, Fulton Hogan had an accelerated completion objective and is currently on target to complete the project in September 2010. "We set a number of objectives that we wanted to meet for the project. From a safety perspective, it was having zero harm safety targets; from an environmental perspective it was environmental excellence; from a community perspective it was no impact on Taupo," McRae said.

In July 2008, the Taupo District Council, in association with Transit NZ, awarded the NZ$100 million contract for the East Taupo Arterial to Fulton Hogan. The contract involves the design and construction of 16 kilometers of highway and a large bridge spanning the Waikato River. The arterial runs from Wairakei, north of Taupo, along the eastern outskirts of the holiday resort town to rejoin State Highway 1 near Taupo Airport.

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