25 September 2018 | SOUTHERN REGION

Makarora Bridge, SH6, part of Haast Pass highway - night work, closed overnights from Sunday night and next week

Haast Pass road users, part of State Highway 6, between Haast on the West Coast and Makarora, in Otago, need to travel outside the night hours from this Sunday night (30 September).

Essential bridge repairs, requiring new deck joints, mean that the Makarora Bridge will be closed overnight between 8 pm and 6 am for potentially six nights through to Saturday morning, 6 October.

“Once we have investigated the state of the bridge joints on Sunday and Monday nights we will have a better idea of the timeframe for this project,” says John Jarvis, Senior Network Manager, NZ Transport Agency. “We will update the timeframe on Tuesday, 2 October, with a better indication of how many nights full closure will be involved.”

The work is weather dependent so heavy rain will affect the time frame.

Makarora Bridge is a single lane, concrete bridge about 68 km south of Haast township and 14 km north of the Makarora township.

“This effectively closes the route along SH6 between Haast and Makarora for these nights,” says Mr Jarvis. “We ask road users to plan their journeys outside of these closure times.”

The work is being planned and timed so that the bridge will be ready to reopen each morning to traffic.

“This work has been scheduled overnight in order to minimise disruption as much as possible. Unfortunately due to the nature of the works, there can be no openings on these evenings,” he says.

“We thank all regular night time travellers who will have to plan around these closures and thank them for their patience while this important safety work is completed."

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