Kaikoura earthquake: emergency access road set to open with restrictions

The New Zealand Transport Agency is taking over control of what's become the Kaikoura Emergency Access Road along the old State Highway 70. Photo / Kurt Bayer

The New Zealand Transport Agency is taking over control of what's become the Kaikoura Emergency Access Road along the old State Highway 70.

Restricted travel starts this morning and will last the next two weeks.

Light vehicles will be able to travel into Kaikoura from 8am to 10am, and out of Kaikoura from 2pm to 4pm today.

The route is scheduled to open at the same times tomorrow for heavy vehicles and four-wheel drives, and again on Friday for light vehicles.

Image 1 of 7: Heading into the Leader region - starting to head into tiger country today. Photo / Dr Kate Pedley (University of Canterbury)

The route will be restricted for essential infrastructure and NZDF vehicles only on Saturday and Sunday.

For safety reasons, only people who've registered will be able to use the road.

The transport agency says the supervised travel comes after last Friday's successful convoy.

It says 25 crews have been placed along the 95km route, working to repair the road and clear thousands of tonnes of debris.

There were more than 50 separate slips in the earthquake along that road alone.