For the people of the Coromandel, State Highway 25A is more than just a road.
For the elderly, it represents access to vital medical care. For local businesses, it connects them to their customers. And for families, it keeps loved ones close.
But for most of this year, the community was left isolated after a section of the highway was destroyed by a landslide in January.
A 124m bridge now reconnects the peninsula, opened earlier this week, three months earlier than anticipated.
Chereè Kinnear, who covered the collapse, build and reopening of State Highway 25A this year, travelled to the Coromandel to meet with the locals who were most impacted by its closure.
She chats with Hot Water Beach TOP 10 Holiday Park owner Sheree Watson and Pauanui Pines Motor Lodge owner Carole Williams about the tough conversations they were forced to have over each of their futures in the Coromandel.
Chereè also sits down with Thames-Coromandel mayor Len Salt to discuss the challenging re-build, government support and the pressure he felt as leader of the community.
Coromandel communities are partying in the street as a vital highway link reopens to holiday traffic in time for Christmas, making it easier for families to reconnect and businesses to recover.
The State Highway 25A bridge opened three months early this morning, marking the end of a difficult period for Coromandel residents after the section of road disappeared in a landslip in January during the summer storms.
Gabrielle Deane, owner of Paradise Gym Tairua in the Coromandel gateway town, said emotional locals were hosting the street party this morning to welcome tourists back.
“It’s been really hard being cut off, and we’re just so stoked to have everyone back through Tairua,” she said.
“The town’s motto is ‘stay and play’ and we just [want] everyone to do exactly that.
“It’s really impacted the businesses here. It’s more than just a bridge, it’s reconnecting people and gives us so much hope for the summer.”
Locals, the NZTA and even Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have all praised how the new 124m viaduct bridge was built in record time along a section of SH25A, between Kōpū and Hikuai.
Build teams had initially expected to finish it by March next year.
The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi thanks the public for their patience, but also asked them to resist the urge to stop and sightsee on it as “it’s not safe”.
“As you can guess, traffic will be heavy over the holidays,” it said in a social media post.
“We need you to do your bit to keep everyone moving smoothly through the site — don’t stop, stick to the speed limit, and travel safely through the site.
“Don’t stop as you’re approaching the bridge or travelling over the bridge. We know you’re keen to see the new bridge and how the land around the bridge has changed following the slip.”
The agency said travellers can instead check out “great drone footage” the agency had posted on its Bay of Plenty social media pages about how the land had changed.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited the site last week and said there the project gave a lot of good lessons on how the Government can speed up consenting.
“This is a great example of what we want to do across the country,” he said.
“A big part of it is looking at working 24/7 more. We’ve got all the talent and smarts to do it so we need to look at how we can speed things up and get things done.”
Thames-Coromandel District mayor Len Salt said the community were emotional about the reopening.
“It’s been a tough year on so many levels for so many people,” he said.
“Who would’ve thought that a bridge would get such an emotional response from the community it affects. This isn’t about infrastructure. This is about how it affects the community.”
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