Editorial: Re-opening but for how long

A couple of Saturdays ago I took a motorcycle down to Palmerston North.

The stretch of highway is a well-worn one for Hawke's Bay people heading south, and for returnees and visitors heading north.

Not a bad road except not enough bends for my liking to get the old bike working a bit. But yes, it's a good highway and a well-kept one.

But I had not been to Palmy for a while, and since my last visit half a hillside took out the main link to the city.

The Manawatu Gorge was rendered silent of traffic from the third week of last August when the slip crashed down.

Photos of the great fall pretty well told the long-term story.

There would be no easy fix, and clearly a spring, a summer and an autumn would pass before any semblance of a roadway would get the green flag for traffic.

Which is how it is stacking up - it will be July at the earliest.

The works crews are toiling seven days a week building retaining "benches" up the face of the slip to stabilise the ground and clearing the millions of cubic metres of debris below, and they are doing a solid job.

I hope it works, because that Saddle Rd through to Ashhurst is a meandering track - it was a slow procession for me and those in the tintops as up ahead a couple of heavy trucks led the way. I noticed some sections had disintegrating edges due to the huge increase in traffic flow.

The only other alternative was the Pahiatua "track" but that adds serious extra time to the journey.

But for anyone heading to Palmerston North, or Levin, or Otaki or Waikanae, or indeed Wellington (if they don't like the alternative down over the Rimutakas and the Hutt), that's the way it has to be.

While we are generally a nation of patient people (although some drivers I spotted were lacking this attribute), I think we all possess the unsettling feeling that even when the gorge is re-opened all it could take is one great three-day deluge to send another hillside down.

It is an unstable stretch, no longer any doubts about that.

Ironically, the only largely unaffected trail through the gorge is the railway track on the other side ... but the passenger trains don't run any more.

Maybe a tunnel? Too costly.

Maybe look at blasting and clearing a new highway over the top like they do on difficult terrain in Europe? Mmm, probably the equivalent of the roading budget for the next two years.

So how about a major revamp of the Saddle route once the gorge is re-opened?

Yes, the crews are doing a sterling job and it will re-open for the winter, wet season.

Mmm, the wet season.

Therein lies the question of "open ... for how long?"

From Hawke's Bay to Manawatu and beyond, it is a valuable part of the national highway network.

Maybe it's time to start seriously looking for a weatherproof option.