The Bath St renovation project has marked a significant milestone with the installation of a hush pit, a large drain indented to capture stormwater and prevent flooding.
Project manager Jon Krause said while the drain may not look like much, under the surface it was 3m wide and 2.5m deep.
"This low point area we informally refer to as spaghetti junction and that's because it's just a real tangle of existing pipes and cables and utilities — then we had to fit all our new infrastructure in there," Mr Krause said.
"It'd be safe to say that this pipe would be one of the most technically complex underground pipes that the Dunedin City Council have put in in quite a while."
The drain was a final touch to replacing a pipe system between Lower Stuart St and Moray Pl which had "done its dash".
"It’s about 140 years old, it was quite severely degraded and in fact had collapsed in one spot," Mr Krause said.
"The new pipe is bigger and it really reduces the potential for flooding on Bath St quite significantly."
Mr Krause said congested, historic buildings in the area had challenged the project, which began in May last year.
"Everything we do considers damage to these existing buildings from either vibration from our machinery or even settlement from the excavations."
The underground work was expected to be complete by mid-May and he wanted to thank those disrupted by the works for their patience.
"We always knew it was going to be disruptive, we've worked really hard to minimise that disruption but appreciate that people are put out by it.
"Everybody's been great and it's a really big deal for this project to have the level of co-operation that we have had."
Last month, the council released a draft design for the above-grounds for the public to give feedback on. It is intended to recognise the area’s history, retaining all but two carparks, increasing lighting and adding two rainbow crossings at either end of Bath St.
The above-ground work was expected to be complete by mid-October, Mr Krause said.
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