A reminder for those travelling to and from Kaikoura next week that a full five-day closure will be in place on State Highway 1, south of Kaikoura, between Peketa and Goose Bay from Monday, 6 November to Friday, 10 November.
Local drive-throughs will take place at the usual times each day during the closure.
“The inland road, Route 70, via Waiau, remains open 24/7 as a good alternative route to Kaikoura,” says Tresca Forrester, North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) Journey Manager. “The current journey time is three hours between Christchurch and Kaikoura on both routes.
“A big focus in the south during this closure is drilling hundreds of anchors into the high slopes and covering them with mesh to protect the slopes from further slips and rockfalls.
“Crews are also doing some critical work that needs to be completed to make the route more resilient and they need as many hours available as they can manage between now and Christmas.”
The purpose of these longer closures is to facilitate and accelerate progress with rock bolting anchors, mesh placement, earthworks, wall construction, and hydro-seeding on multiple sites. Crews will also make use of the reduced traffic flows to advance road works at Oaro and in the Hundalee range south of Oaro to ensure completion in December.
Crews will also be removing further unstable materials through these extended five-day work weeks within the Peketa-Goose Bay open/closed schedule, detailed below:
Monday, 6 November – Friday, 10 November: local drive-throughs at 7am and between 6pm and 7pm, closed for the day and overnight.
Saturday 11 November – Monday, 13 November (inclusive): open 7am-8pm to the public and closed overnight.
Upcoming additional week of five days closure 20-24 November: The North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery team (NCTIR) also requires an additional extended closure from Monday, 20 November – Friday, 24 November. Twice daily drive-throughs for residents will be provided. Heavy rain through September and October has meant that new slips and rockfalls have added extra works to the current work programme.
“The NCTIR crews understand that these extended closures have a big impact on residents and the community and we thank them for their continued support. Crews remain committed to get the highway in the best possible condition for the December opening,” says Tresca Forrester.
