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After years of accidents, including fatalities, and many failed temporary fixes, Waka Kotahi NZTA is set to fully repair a slip-damaged section of SH16 at Makarau – though not until next year.
Project manager Jamie Rowe told a Rodney Local Board workshop last week that a permanent solution for the 150-metre underslip between Basil Orr Road and Omeru Scenic Reserve was currently being worked on and construction should start by mid-2025.
The stretch of highway has been subject to speed restrictions and surface patching for several years, but the slumps and bumps remain.
Rowe admitted that previous attempts to fix the drainage, subsidence and cracked road surface “weren’t overly successful”, but geotechnical and hydrology teams were determined to find the right solution to the slip, which is still moving by up to 250mm a year.
He said making sure drainage was appropriate and deep enough to deal with inundation and ground saturation in and around the 20-metre deep slip was key to the success of the project.
The workshop heard that drainage work would be carried out first, followed by more expensive piling if that didn’t solve the problem. NZTA endorsement for the project is expected next month and the detailed design due to be completed by the end of the year.
Board member Geoff Upson, who has long campaigned to have the road repaired properly, said NZTA should consider fully closing that section of SH16 when the work took place in a bid to get the job finished as quickly as possible.
Chair Brent Bailey said it was good that something was finally happening.
“We hope that you’re able to get the funding to start the works as fast as humanly possible because we’ve had this for a long time,” he said.
Near neighbour Steven Law, who has persistently lobbied to get the hazardous stretch of highway fixed for years, said he had been told by a former geotechnical engineer that the slip was more like 35 metres deep, “so the cost and the job will be big”.
He added he was glad something was finally being done after 20 years of him trying and being largely ignored or fobbed off by various agencies.
“I believe that it was a problem to start with, soon after it was built in 1966,” he said. “In that time, millions of dollars have been spent patching, drilling, monitoring, and so on, let alone the cost from the traffic incidents. There have been three fatals in this time and a lot of (other) accidents.”
