SH1 Desert Road overnight closures for resurfacing works

Road resurfacing work to improve the quality and longevity of the Desert Road on State Highway 1 will get underway from Sunday 15 November.

The road will be closed each night from 7pm until 5am, six nights a week, beginning 7pm Sunday and finishing 5am Saturday, in order to complete the work as effectively and efficiently as possible.

These works are expected to take approximately two weeks to complete. During this time, multiple areas will be resurfaced between the intersection of SH1 and State Highway 46 at Rangipo, and the intersection of SH1 and State Highway 49 at Waiouru.

Outside these hours the road will be operate as normal.

Emergency services will have full access through the work site during the works.

Waka Kotahi thanks motorists for their patience.

Detour information

• From Turangi, the southbound detour will be via State Highway 41 or State Highway 46, on to State Highway 47, State Highway 4 at National Park and then State Highway 49 to Waiouru. The northbound detour will be the same, in reverse.
• For a journey between Turangi and Waiouru the detour will add an extra 30 to 35 minutes over and above the normal 45-minute journey time via SH1. The total travel time is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.
• While the road closure will be in place from 7pm, Waka Kotahi encourages motorists to complete their travel well before then as the contractors will be setting up traffic management from 6pm and this may cause delays.

Plan ahead for a safe, enjoyable journey. Keep up to date with:

• Traffic updates: journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic(external link)
• Facebook: facebook.com/nztacni(external link)
• Twitter: twitter.com/WakaKotahiCNI(external link)
• Journey planner: journeys.nzta.govt.nz(external link)
• Phone: 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49)