State Highway 1 en route to completion

Work to repair a slip on State Highway 1 south of Kawakawa is approaching completion after a year of work. Photo / Thinkstock

Work to repair a slip on State Highway 1 south of Kawakawa is approaching completion after a year of work.

A temporary route was built around the slip, caused by flooding in Northland in July last year.

The New Zealand Transport agency said the repair work had included driving 39 reinforced concrete piles 21m into the ground.

State highways manager Brett Gliddon said the next stage was to fill the hole left with more than 8000cu m of fill.

"This material will be trucked from Whangarei and stockpiled north of the slip, so there will be an increase in the number of trucks entering and exiting the worksite.

"Contractors will now be working between 7am and 6pm, seven days a week to get the repairs finished and make this stretch of the highway safer and more resilient ahead of any more severe winter weather."

Traffic driving through the area may be stopped at times to allow northbound trucks to safely enter the work area. Motorists are also asked to observe a 30km/h speed limit.

"We apologise for any disruption to people's journeys and thank everyone for their ongoing patience as we make the final push to complete this work."

Mr Gliddon said the new highway will be rebuilt along the existing alignment and barriers will be installed to improve safety.

- NZME.