It’s been a tough few years for the Mangamuka Store after SH1 was closed over the Mangamuka Range due to slips. But it’s survived thanks to its loyal locals and the workers from the Mangamuka repair job.
It’s been a tough few years for the Mangamuka Store after SH1 was closed over the Mangamuka Range due to slips. But it’s survived thanks to its loyal locals and the workers from the Mangamuka repair job.
One of those looking forward to it most is Mangamuka Store owner Eliza Kete, who has been battling to keep the dairy and takeaways open in the face of a closed SH1 taking away most of her custom.
But the store has survived, thanks mainly, Kete said, to its loyal locals and the Mangamuka Gorge workers who spend their money there.
However, while she’s looking forward to the day the roughly 1300 vehicles a day will be passing the store, Kete won’t be at the store to see it - she’s handing over running it to her niece.
SH1 over Mangamuka Gorge has been closed twice in recent years. The 13km stretch of state highway was then wiped out by a series of 15 slips in a major storm in August 2022, just over a year after the highway reopened following a previous year-long closure.
Repairs on those had been going for less than six months when a storm in April 2023 brought down another 20 slips - some of them massive - that covered 1.3km and required more repairs.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said the road is on track to reopen before Christmas, weather permitting, and an exact opening date should be known in September.
Eliza Kete has kept Mangamuka Store operating despite SH1 outside the store being closed for almost two years. She won’t be in charge when it reopens - she’s handed things over to her niece - but is looking forward to the road finally reopening.
Kete is just happy that the long wait will be over and that the store can once again thrive.
‘’We all can’t wait for it to reopen and get the traffic coming back through. I’m looking forward to it, but I won’t be here (at the store) then as my niece is taking over,’’ she said.
‘’But it will be great for Mangamuka and the Far North to have it back open again.’’
She said it has been hard over the past two years, particularly, for the store, but the loyal locals, and the Gorge repair workers - up to 150 a day are working on the site - had been enough to keep the lights on.
And speaking to some of the workers at the site last Friday, they can’t say enough good things about the store and especially its fish and chips.
Kete said the support of the locals and workers had been really appreciated and a good summer, weatherwise, meant the store got plenty of visitors who were doing the Te Araroa Trail.
‘’This past summer has been great mainly because of those (trail walkers) our locals and the workers, they’ve all kept us going.’’
‘’Phew, we have survived it. It was hard and stressful at times, but we’re really looking forward to the future and the road opened permanently again.’’
Kylie Harris is the comms and engagement manager for the project’s main contractor CLL. She was born and grew up in Kaitāia and is among about 75 per cent of the total workforce on the site who are locals, from the surrounding areas. Her partner, father, uncle and a nephew were among the whānau members working on the site.
Harris said having such a high level of local workers meant they were all very invested in the project and determined to make sure it was done as quickly as possible, without doing any damage to the environment and some of the unique flora and fauna in the area.
She and the rest of the local workers could not wait for the road to reopen so access to the Far North can be fully restored.
The two-year repair job to fully fix State Highway 1 over Mangamuka Gorge in the Far North has been so extensive and complex that an extra $60 million to finish the job was allocated in Thursday’s Budget. That takes the total cost of the massive repair to $160m.
REPAIRS BY NUMBERS:
$160 million - total cost of the repair work after extra $60m was allocated in Thursday’s Budget
365,000 - hours have been worked on site since works started at the end of February 2023
