Earlier scenes from the Esk underslip, and how it looks now that traffic flow has been restored to two lanes more than nine months after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Waka Kotahi NZTA
Earlier scenes from the Esk underslip, and how it looks now that traffic flow has been restored to two lanes more than nine months after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Waka Kotahi NZTA
Another milestone has been reached in the restoration of State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupō, with the completion of repairs at the site of a slip which ripped out a section of the road between Glengarry and Te Pōhue in Cyclone Gabrielle.
The slip is referred to by Government highways management agency Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency as the “Esk underslip”, which saw the road closed following the storm over February 13-14.
It was one of more than 32 damaged sites on the highway, mainly located between Te Hāroto and Eskdale, the worst of which kept the road closed for more than five weeks.
When it re-opened to traffic six weeks after the cyclone, it was initially restricted to daylight hours.
The agency says the bypass that was built in March to go around the slip has now been landscaped and hydroseeded, restoring the land to how it was before it became a temporary road. The large underslip at Eland has also been fixed.
The slip destroyed a section of the road and traffic had to be rerouted through a temporary lane around the site after the road was re-opened five weeks after the cyclone. Photo / Waka Kotahi NZTA
The road was sealed last week and is now back open to two lanes, with a 50km/h speed limit until the guardrails are in place.
There’s only one remaining single-lane section on SH5 - the Captain’s Culvert site between Te Pōhue and Te Hāroto.
The Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC) team is working to get the large drop backfilled by Christmas and the road re-opened to two lanes.
At another site near the underslip (the inlet site of the culvert), work is due to start in early 2024, but the road will remain open to two lanes, the agency says.
“We know delays on SH5 are frustrating - thanks to everyone in the community for your patience and support while we restore the road,” a spokesperson said.
TREC is an alliance set up to plan, organise and deliver much of the recovery and rebuild work needed on the state highway and rail networks in Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast.
It’s a partnership between Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail, along with contractors Downer, Fulton Hogan and Higgins.
Waka Kotahi said it depends on the mahi of many local contractors and suppliers in order to deliver infrastructure over many years.
