Napier-Taupō highway: Rebirth of critical route

A detour built around a large dropout on State Highway 5 near Glengarry, one of the 32 damage sites that will have closed the highway to general public use for 34 days when it reopens on Monday. Photo / NZTA

A Hastings woman who travels from Hawke’s Bay with her husband to manage a motel in Taupō hopes the reopening of the crucial State Highway 5 link between the two centres won’t be taken as just a chance to look at the damage that closed the road a month ago.

Karen and Peter Johnston share the management of The Reef motel on a fortnight-about basis, and will make the trip on Tuesday, in time to be ready to pick up the job the next day.

But it hasn’t been so easy since Cyclone Gabrielle closed the road in the midst of the storms of Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast on the night of February 13-14.

They’d just arrived back in the Bay for their break when the storm hit, and to get back for their next stint added about 250km on the shortest available route, via SH3 temporary route Saddle Rd, Ashhurst and Feilding – a trip almost three times that of the normal Napier-Taupō journey.

It included a night in a motel along the way, and the cost of it, to break the six hours of driving so that they’d be fresh and ready to greet the customers again in the lakeside resort town, where Mrs Johnston expects to see more and more people from Hawke’s Bay as they try to get a break from the disaster zone.

“We’re not going on a Tiki Tour,” she said, thinking ahead to the trip in the new week, in which the general public will be able to drive SH5 between Napier and Taupō between 7am and 7pm from Monday.

“We don’t want to get in anyone’s way,” she said. “If everyone sticks to the limits you’ll see it all.”

National highways management agency Waka Kotahi NZTA, which trialled reopening with one critical freight convoy each way for four days this week, is not putting any restrictions on who travels the highway, which had 32 damage sites, still in various states of repairs and numerous crews still working on the road.

But it warns driver behaviour could be a factor if the highway has to be closed again, after being closed for 34 days, thought to be the longest the sector of over 100km from Eskdale to Taupō has been closed in at least 60 years.

Regional manager maintenance and operations Jaclyn Hankin said contractors have been working hard at both the Napier and Taupō ends of the highway to get the road to the point where it can be safely reopened to the public.

“These people have worked tirelessly, with a single goal in mind – returning the road as quickly as possible to a condition where it can be safely used by everyone who relies on this key connection,” she said. “The community has also been instrumental in helping get us to this point, and we thank them for their assistance and patience in getting to this milestone.”

Hankin said ensuring the safety of everyone who uses SH5 and the crews that continue work to repair the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle is the highest priority for Waka Kotahi.

She said the road is now safe to use “… but there is still a lot of work to do”.

“The road will not look anything like what it did before Cyclone Gabrielle, and people should not expect it to,” she said. “This will be a long-term fix. There are 32 damaged sites along the route, ranging from minor dropouts to significant underslips and washouts.”

Waka Kotahi says that apart from the vital needs of the highway, with others such as State Highway 2 Napier-Wairoa and the Taihape Rd over the Gentle Annie still closed, it is a chance for people to “enjoy reconnecting with your friends and whānau”. But Hankin said it’s “absolutely critical” that people adhere to all temporary speed limits, follow the directions of traffic management staff and signs, be patient with other road users and our crews on the ground, and take care.

There will also be police patrols to help manage driver behaviour and keep everyone safe, and water trucks will be suppressing dust and mitigating the risk of dust exposure for the communities living along the road, with developing northwesterlies, with rain, forecast on day one of the reconnection.

Additional road closures will be required as part of the scheduled road renewal programme. These are expected to take place within the next two weeks and will be single-day closures.

The road may also need to close at short notice in the case of any deterioration, poor weather or if people are not adhering to traffic management and temporary speed limits.