State Highway 6 closed for repairs

State Highway 6 is closed for emergency repairs from this month until 18 December with no direct link between Hira and Rai Valley.

“These forestry roads were badly damaged during the August weather event and can’t be used,” says Mark Owen, Regional Manager Wellington and Top of the South.

He says public access through the work sites won’t be possible due to the nature of the work required and the fact the work sites will use the entire road width for construction, particularly in the early phases of the repairs.

This will affect residents as well as businesses in nearby areas, such as Hira, Cable Bay, the Rai Valley, Havelock, and Okiwi Bay.

“If there were to be another significant flood, the route could be shut down entirely for months, not weeks. For the sake of the local community and regular users of the road, this is a risk we can’t afford to take. It is why we have chosen to do a seven-week closure to get the repairs done as quickly as possible,” Mr Owen says.

Arrangements have been made for residents and those with business commitments and animal welfare requirements within the closure area.

“They will have access to and from Kokorua Road via a forestry track at the top of Whangamoa range to the Hira end of the closure. All access will be via escorted convoys at scheduled times for safety reasons.”

He says the trips will take approximately 40 minutes. The route is a safe but narrow and steep gravel forestry road.

“Our aim is to run 12 convoys daily. Three each way in the morning and three each way in the afternoon/evening. We hope this should help those families caught up in the closure zone while the repairs to State Highway 6 are carried out.”

Mr Owen says the access being provided couldn’t have happened without the cooperation of Tasman Pine Forest and the owners of the land, Ngāti Koata.

Drivers can travel between Blenheim and Nelson by using State Highway 63 (SH63) through to Kawatiri junction, then State Highway 6 (SH6).

There will be around 100 to 150 workers on site each day over the five construction sites, plus additional workers carrying out other maintenance and resilience work being bought into the closure.

The work will include: