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State Highway 5, the Napier-Taupō Rd, will reopen to general traffic from 7am on Monday.
The road has been closed for a month after significant damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and another lot of heavy rainfall at the end of February saw more of the road fall away. This week the road reopened to essential freight convoys, to the excitement of locals who live along the road.
Announcing the reopening on social media, Transport Minister Michael Wood said: “the road is safe to use, but there is still a lot of work to get a long-term fix … I want to thank the contractors who have been working tirelessly to restore this transport link and the community for their patience and understanding as Waka Kotahi has undertaken this job.”
The road doesn’t look like before, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency warned. There were 32 damaged sites “ranging from minor dropouts to significant underslips and washouts”.
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The road will close at night from 7pm to 7am for safety reasons.
“There’ll be speed restrictions in place to keep you safe, and there are active work sites. Because of that, the journey between Napier and Taupō will take longer than it used to.
“Travel carefully through the work sites and stick to the posted speed limits,” a Waka Kotahi spokesperson said.
Waka Kotahi NZTA/Supplied
This stretch of SH5 between Te Pōhue and Glengarry suffered extensive damage following more heavy rainfall in the area. The slip on February 19 after Cyclone Gabrielle and later on February 28.
The road may need to close again, because it is still fragile. On top of that, there will be multiple single-day closures over the next two weeks as part of the repair process.
Contractors will be operating water trucks to suppress dust for the communities living in Eskdale.
“We’d like to acknowledge the communities that live along SH5. They’ve experienced significant disruption with the road closed. Thanks for bearing with us while we worked to reopen SH5. Enjoy reconnecting with your friends and whānau and getting to where you need to go,” the Waka Kotahi spokesperson said.
Wood said the road could close at short notice if people were not adhering to traffic management and temporary speed limits. There would be a police presence on the road for safety.
Over-dimensional loads of category 4 or higher cannot use the road, but all other heavy vehicles can.
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