A helicopter carrying a monsoon bucket will drop thousands of litres of water above State Highway 2 (SH2) in the Waimana Gorge today as work to clear a slip blocking the road continues.
The highway, which links Taneatua and Opotiki has been closed at Waimana since 3.30am yesterday (Monday August 8) when a large amount of rocks and other material came down following heavy rain.
The detour is via Whakatane and Ohope.
The NZ Transport Agency’s Bay of Plenty highways manager, Niclas Johansson says SH2 at Waimana is expected to re-open to one lane by early this evening.
“This is a large slip, approximately 2000 cubic metres of material has come down and our contractors have been working hard to clear it and get the road open again,” he says.
“The helicopter will help bring down any unstable material above the slip. Once this is complete, concrete barriers will be installed and one lane will open to traffic under stop/go traffic management so drivers can get through.
“At this stage we expect to have one lane open this evening however people will experience delays of five to 10 minutes due to the traffic management onsite.”
Stop/go traffic management will remain in place until the site is assessed as safe to fully reopen.
Another update will be sent out at 5pm today.
SH2 at Waimana Gorge will open to one lane at 7.30pm
Stop/go traffic management will be in place and delays of five to 10 minutes are possible.
The road will be CLOSED again tomorrow (Wednesday August 10) from 7am until approximately 11am to allow the helicopter to go back to the site and sluice off more loose material from the bank above the road.
Following this work the road is expected to re-open to one lane with stop/go traffic management in place.
Another update will be sent out tomorrow at 11am.
SH2 at Waimana Gorge is now open to one lane.
Stop/go traffic management is in place and motorists are advised to expect delays of up to 10 minutes as NZ Transport Agency contractors continue work to clear the slip.
A priority Give Way will be in place outside work hours. Motorists are urged to drive with extra care and attention in the area and respect the traffic management in place.
For personalised information about driving conditions on their frequently used routes, motorists can check out and sign up to On The Move(external link).
For real time information on highway conditions and incidents or to report issues on the network visit www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic, call 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49) or follow the Transport Agency on Facebook(external link) or @nztawaibop(external link) on twitter.
