The State Highway 1-Desert Road closure is now expected to take place on Thursday 8 March for 36 hours from 7am because of expected bad weather.
The closure was scheduled to take place from Wednesday morning. The road is being closed to enable the concrete deck to be poured and was always weather-dependent.
Another similar 36-hour closure is scheduled for 4-5 April, this will also be weather permitting.
Outside of the closure times people can expect the bridge to be down to one lane, with some short closures of around 5 minutes. There is a 30km/h limit in place.
The alternative route is State Highways 46, 47, 4 and 49. This detour is not suitable for vehicles over 44 tonnes, apart from 50MAX which is permitted.
There are also multiple maintenance work sites on the Desert Road during this period and delays are possible at other sites.
High productivity motor vehicles can use the SH3 and SH3A route between Hamilton and Bulls.
Vehicles with over-weight loads or over-dimension loads wider than 3.0 metres are unable to use the Desert Road section of SH1 until the bridge repairs are complete in April.
These closure dates are subject to fine weather and further postponement may be needed.
People can check all current road closures here(external link)
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