People driving south of Nelson towards Murchison on SH6 will face delays up to 30 minutes at a time from next week, says Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

From Monday, 22 November through to Wednesday, 22 December Waka Kotahi will be working at an area* between the Owen River Bridge and Kawatiri Bridge.

“Scaling and rock removal work is needed after a recent slip in late October, to stabilise the rock face,” says Andrew James, System Manager Waka Kotahi Top of the South. “We want to return the highway to two lanes in time for the Christmas traffic.”

Work will be under way Monday to Saturday, 7am – 6pm. Outside these hours the site will be managed with temporary traffic signals with the single lane and a 30km/hour speed limit.

The red spot in the middle of the map to the east of the Owen River is where this slip remediation work is happening:

While the scaling works are taking place, the site will be managed by Stop/Go traffic management with most delays between 10 and 15 minutes. There will also be slightly longer closures up to 30 minutes.

Contractors, using helicopters, will be drilling, scaling/ removing rocks and installing netting over the rockfall area.

Waka Kotahi thanks road users for their patience in the lead up to Christmas.

The aim is to get this site back to two lanes for the summer break with further rockface safety work to take place in the New Year, says Mr James.

• Updates on this work here: https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/roadhazards/361353

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