Uncovering what lies beneath State Highway 35

Video transcript

Timestamp	Visual information	Audio information
00:00:00	Title – SH35 Resilience Kopuaroa Hill Improvements	Light, rhythmic music.
00:00:04	Drone pictures of native bush and farmland next to State Highway 35.
00:00:04	[Text] The East Coast is made up of a large body of rock (allochthon) that is continuously moving. The rock at Kopuaroa hill is soft, unstable and full of water.
00:00:15	Interview with Richard Bayley, Waka Kotahi Senior Project Manager standing on site among native bush, with drilling equipment behind him.	We're really interested in what's going on beneath our feet here. So the soft rocks here really affect the stability of the road, and we would have – locals would have seen that with the recent rain events, where we did have some section of roads that moved a lot.
00:00:25	Drone shot of drilling site at a clearing within native bush.
00:00:25	[Text] Behind the scenes we are working hard to understand and work with nature to find great solutions for our roads.
00:00:34	Interview with Richard Bayley.	The reason why we are drilling in this particular site is that this is close to where we're looking at doing a realignment. There's a lot of ground water pressure here, so we need to understand what's going on.
00:00:45	Workers putting drilling equipment together.
00:00:45	[Text] As part of the SH35 resilience project we are carrying out geotechnical drilling to 30 metres.
00:00:53	Interview with Richard Bayley.	We're drilling a hole to get some samples of the rock so we can check its properties and see how well it'll hold up to having a road built on it, and having the slopes cut. And it also gives us an idea of whether retaining walls are needed, what sort of drainage is required based on the amount of water that's been seen, and what sort of fractures and faults there are in the area.
00:01:03	Workers looking at core samples from the drill to understand the ground conditions.
00:01:14	Interview with Richard Bayley.	Yes, it's hard to build a road on the soft material that is consistently moving. These slopes aren't things that we can resolve with engineering – we just have to engineer solutions that work with the environment so that we can have the most robust and resilient road we can.
00:01:28	Drone shot of the drilling site at a clearing within native bush, before panning to show proximity to the road.
00:01:30	Voiceover.	State Highway 35 is a critical lifeline for communities, businesses and freight on the East Coast, and we understand that closures have an impact on those living, working and travelling along these routes. Restoring and maintaining safe access is our top priority. We appreciate the patience and support by road users as we undertake this important work.
00:01:43	[Text] Please visit nzta.govt.nz/projects/connecting-tairawhiti for more information
00:01:52	Waka Kotahi logo

Time	00:00:00
Visual info	Title – SH35 Resilience Kopuaroa Hill Improvements
Audio info	Light, rhythmic music.

Time	00:00:04
Visual info	Drone pictures of native bush and farmland next to State Highway 35.
Audio info

Time	00:00:04
Visual info	[Text] The East Coast is made up of a large body of rock (allochthon) that is continuously moving. The rock at Kopuaroa hill is soft, unstable and full of water.
Audio info

Time	00:00:15
Visual info	Interview with Richard Bayley, Waka Kotahi Senior Project Manager standing on site among native bush, with drilling equipment behind him.
Audio info	We're really interested in what's going on beneath our feet here. So the soft rocks here really affect the stability of the road, and we would have – locals would have seen that with the recent rain events, where we did have some section of roads that moved a lot.

Time	00:00:25
Visual info	Drone shot of drilling site at a clearing within native bush.
Audio info

Time	00:00:25
Visual info	[Text] Behind the scenes we are working hard to understand and work with nature to find great solutions for our roads.
Audio info

Time	00:00:34
Visual info	Interview with Richard Bayley.
Audio info	The reason why we are drilling in this particular site is that this is close to where we're looking at doing a realignment. There's a lot of ground water pressure here, so we need to understand what's going on.

Time	00:00:45
Visual info	Workers putting drilling equipment together.
Audio info

Time	00:00:45
Visual info	[Text] As part of the SH35 resilience project we are carrying out geotechnical drilling to 30 metres.
Audio info

Time	00:00:53
Visual info	Interview with Richard Bayley.
Audio info	We're drilling a hole to get some samples of the rock so we can check its properties and see how well it'll hold up to having a road built on it, and having the slopes cut. And it also gives us an idea of whether retaining walls are needed, what sort of drainage is required based on the amount of water that's been seen, and what sort of fractures and faults there are in the area.

Time	00:01:03
Visual info	Workers looking at core samples from the drill to understand the ground conditions.
Audio info

Time	00:01:14
Visual info	Interview with Richard Bayley.
Audio info	Yes, it's hard to build a road on the soft material that is consistently moving. These slopes aren't things that we can resolve with engineering – we just have to engineer solutions that work with the environment so that we can have the most robust and resilient road we can.

Time	00:01:28
Visual info	Drone shot of the drilling site at a clearing within native bush, before panning to show proximity to the road.
Audio info

Time	00:01:30
Visual info	Voiceover.
Audio info	State Highway 35 is a critical lifeline for communities, businesses and freight on the East Coast, and we understand that closures have an impact on those living, working and travelling along these routes. Restoring and maintaining safe access is our top priority. We appreciate the patience and support by road users as we undertake this important work.

Time
Visual info
Audio info

Time	00:01:43
Visual info	[Text] Please visit nzta.govt.nz/projects/connecting-tairawhiti for more information
Audio info

Time	00:01:52
Visual info	Waka Kotahi logo
Audio info