Great news: Brynderwyns to fully reopen from Monday

State Highway One over the Brynderwyns will reopen in both directions from Monday after contractors cleared a number of big slips.

It’s the news motorists across Northland have been waiting for - State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyns, south of Whangārei, will reopen in both directions from 6am Monday.

Access over the Brynderwyns, about 45km south of Whangārei, has been restricted after several slips caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in early February and an earlier closure because of storm damage.

Since then, SH1 over the hill has been been fully closed or down to one lane as work continued to repair the numerous slips on the road. Both lanes were reopened temporarily over Easter, before the road was closed again for a permanent fix on April 17.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency regional maintenance and operations manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult said crews have worked hard over the past two weeks to reinstate access for Northland road users.

“We’ve made great progress over the two-week closure, which allowed us to complete major earthworks. We were able to advance our work across all three over slips where we re-formed the hillside and removed loose material to make it safer,’’ Hori-Hoult said.

Contractors have been working hard over the past few months to clear slips from the Brynderwyns, south of Whangārei.

“Excavators, in some cases being safely held in place by a winch, have been casting the dirt from the top down, with trucks then picking up the material and carrying it from site. We’ve been able to remove a substantial amount of material through what has been a huge effort by the teams. It means a lot for them to be able to open this road back up for people and freight.”

Drainage has also been put in to help future-proof stormwater resilience.

‘’Over the next few days, we will continue to remove material, finalise drainage and complete concrete stabilisation over an under slip. Along with this work, we will complete pavement repairs on other sections of the road, hydroseeding [planting] over slip areas and general maintenance,’’ she said.

“Once the road is open again on Monday, we will still be on site removing material from the southern slip sites. Traffic management along with a temporary speed limit will still be in place.

A digger moves some of the thousands of tonnes of dirt that blocked SH1 over the Brynderwyns for months. The road will finally fully reopen on Monday.

”This route is a crucial connection to and from Northland for people and freight, so getting it to a point we can fully reopen is a massive feat. We will not hesitate to close the road if it becomes unsafe.’’

Motorists have had to take major detours to get to and from the region, which has put huge pressure on roads that were not designed to handle the amount of traffic.

The Oakleigh-Paparoa Highway route is getting badly degraded because of the extra traffic, which is also putting pressure on SH12 from the southern end of the Brynderwyns through Maungaturoto, Dargaville and on to Whangārei, which has been the only route for heavy trucks.

The road through Waipū and Mangawhai to Kaiwaka has also been put under enormous pressure as a result of detoured traffic.