10 April 2017 | SOUTHERN REGION

Highway south of Kaikoura closes 6 pm tonight for two days of emergency work, inland route open

Two-day closure State Highway 1 south of Kaikoura from today 6 pm, Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 and 12 April

The NZ Transport Agency will close State Highway 1 south of Kaikoura between Goose Bay and Peketa tonight at 6pm for emergency stabilisation work near the Paratitahi Tunnels.

“More rockfall and a large amount of material behind a protective bund of containers needs to be removed in preparation for wet weather at Easter weekend,” says Steve Mutton, Earthquake Recovery Manager for the Transport Agency.

Last week’s cyclone weather and subsequent mud and rock slides pushed the containers completely off the road. While they have been re-established to enable the highway to open thismorning, more material has continued to fall behind them.

The aim is to reopen the road at 7am Thursday morning, 13 April, weather permitting. Please check this map for updates.

People need to take the inland road to Kaikoura via Waiau and Mt Lyford while the highway is closed for emergency work.

Photo taken today at site of containers and slip:

Inland Road (Route 70)
The inland road via Waiau and Mt Lyford to Peketa/ Kaikoura remains open 24 hours a day since last week’s flood-related closure. The river level has dropped and traffic is again using the lower level culverted pathway.

Transport Agency crews are beginning to pin 100 rock bolts into the slip known as Whale’s Back from this week. The work is estimated to take up to three weeks. Once it is completed, the road itself will need a week of resealing. There is also remediation work on the Conway Bluffs, also on the inland road, underway.

The Transport Agency thanks all people traveling to and from Kaikoura for their patience in recent days with many closures triggered by the wet weather and cliff instability.

At all times, the safety of crews and people on the road is the reason for closures, says Steve Mutton.

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