The roading rebuild after Cyclone Gabrielle is in the home stretch, with construction well underway on the remaining $8.5 million of repairs for the Tararua District.

There are seven high complexity sites in various stages of design, and construction is underway on three complex sites. There are around 44 medium complexity sites remaining, which require fixing road faults that need minimal design and
engineering input compared to the more complex sites.

On Maunga Road in Dannevirke, a steep drop-out at the road edge is being remedied with a mechanically stabilised earthwall and moving the road over into the hill.

The seven high complexity sites will have design and engineering options developed by the engineering and design team at Tararua Alliance, and are reviewed and approved by NZTA, who is providing the bulk of the funding at a rate of 97.5%, with 2.5% local share from rates.

The remaining sites that will be constructed this financial year are on Route 52 (sections 84 and 121 in Pongaroa), Coast Road, Marainanga Gorge, Ormondville Te Uri Road, River Rd (Ākitio) and Riverdale Road.

Tararua Alliance Delivery Manager Blake Hedley is pleased with the progress: “Looking back at how much has been rebuilt on our roads since Cyclone Gabrielle over the past two years, it’s great to be at this point now of having a relatively small number of sites to close out.”

“Especially with our high complexity sites, resilience is a word we use a lot and it’s about designing to repair the immediate problem, as well as finding a solution that will prevent further slips and drop-outs in these high-risk areas.”

“The Tararua Alliance team along with our local subcontractors have learned an incredible amount about local conditions and what works best in the Tararua District.

As a result of the Cyclone, we have a lot more tools in our toolkit for responding to future events.