Night works on SH60, Takaka Hill, between Riwaka and Takaka, will be starting again from this Sunday evening, 3 May, says Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
The road will be closed from 9pm to 6am for up to two weeks, Sunday night to Thursday night, while the orange water-filled barriers around the five significant slip sites are replaced with steel barriers.
Waka Kotahi Principal Project Manager Chris Robertson says the new barriers will better protect the workers as well as road users while the last five slip sites* are repaired this year.
Will the road open overnight during the closures? Yes, before 2 am
The road will be opened for a short period each night for essential travel, as allowed in the guidelines for safety under Covid-19, Level 3.
Vehicles making essential trips towards Takaka will be allowed through at 1.45am.
“Once the barriers have been replaced, work to build new retaining walls at these significantly damaged sites will get underway,” says Mr Robertson.
He reminds road users that work at Alert Level 3 does not look like pre-pandemic work.
“A range of new measures are in place to ensure this work will be done safely, to protect our people working in small work bubbles, and road users.”
He asks people to be patient and respectful to roadworkers and look out for their safety and wellbeing. Anyone with a question is asked to call the freephone number – 0800 4 Highways – rather than approach a crew member.
“Our people are stepping out of their home bubbles to do work that will keep us all safe and we are grateful to everyone for bearing the new safety measures and need for social distancing in mind over the coming weeks.”
* Ten smaller sites have been repaired since Cyclone Gita set off multiple slips and temporarily closed the hill road just over two years ago. Since then, hill access has been controlled with traffic lights and a timer, so people know how long they have to wait, over the single lane sections past the active work sites.
For background on this big repair project reinstating a resilient link between Golden Bay and Riwaka: https://nzta.govt.nz/projects/sh60-takaka-hill-repairs/(external link)
For more information email takakahill@nzta.govt.nz
Keep up to date with:
