Hamilton Ring Road: A bird’s eye view
The Hamilton Ring Road project is well under way and now you can see exactly what is happening.
The balloon’s gone up and the pictures are in. The Hamilton Ring Road project is well under way and now you can see exactly what is happening.
The Waikato Independent is the first online newspaper to publish these images, which are part of a series being taken every two months to document the progress of construction.
Click on the red pointers in the map to see all the images –
Map by Harkanwal Hothi
Ring Road project manager Iain Fletcher, of Downer who supplied the photos, says they are captured using a tethered balloon, which carries a camera on a gyroscope and is controlled by a man on the ground.
“He watches it through a visor to see what the camera is looking at and then he controls the camera with a joystick.
“He just snaps away to his heart’s content then moves the balloon up the road by just walking up the footpath with it. It’s like a kid would walk with a balloon at the fairground really, just a bit bigger.”
This stage of the Ring Road project involves four-laning Wairere Dr west of the Waikato River and building a road through Fairview Downs as far as Ruakura Rd. It is expected to be completed by December.
Over the next few weeks, Wintec journalism students will be interviewing people working on the ring road. Watch for our stories. Further information can also be found here.
