Slip keeps coastal road closed

State Highway 59 will remain closed between Paekākāriki and Pukerua Bay till at least next week after a slip blocked the road last month.

Traffic is instead being diverted along Transmission Gully, causing disruption for local residents and businesses alike. A journey that would usually take less than 10 minutes will now take more than 30.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s previous estimates for the road’s closure have ranged from three weeks to ‘‘indefinitely’’. Regional manager Mark Owen said he hoped the road would re-open during the week of September 12.

The road has been closed since a slip occurred on Friday, August 19, when bad weather led to hundreds of slips around the region.

Pukerua Bay residents can enter from the south and Paekākāriki residents from the north, but Waka Kotahi has asked all other road users to avoid the area and use SH1, Transmission Gully, instead.

To travel north from Pukerua Bay to Paekākāriki, drivers need to detour south down SH59 and east along Grays Road or SH58, then north via Paekākāriki Hill Rd or Transmission Gully.

Owen said planning and design work for a permanent repair was ‘‘well under way’’, with multiple crews working on rosters of 10 hours a day, seven days a week.

‘‘Excavators are working at the top and bottom of the hillside to remove vegetation and soil to create a slope that will be stable long-term, rather than do a quick temporary clean-up,’’ he said. ‘‘Benches (steps) are being formed along the hill to capture debris, like the benches seen on the Ngauranga Gorge hillside.’’

Fifteen thousand cubic metres of material would be removed from the site – a total of 2345 truckloads of earth – with 7000 removed already, he said.

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett said he was ‘‘not particularly worried’’ about its impact on heavy vehicle routes, despite initial Waka Kotahi data showing 25% of heavy vehicles still used SH59 after the opening of Transmission Gully.

‘‘The whole purpose of building Transmission Gully was improving resilience in the region. It’s already proved its worth.’’

However, there was absolutely still a need for both roads to be operational. ‘‘These roads, they are lifelines, and we dowant them to be open as quickly as possible.’’

But local businesses are concerned about the impact. Customer numbers have fallen away. Nicole Duke, owner of The Perching Parrot cafe on Paekākāriki’s Beach Rd, called it her ‘‘worst week in my 11 years in this business’’.

With this road closure, the local business community had realised how many people still used the old highway. She feared that because Transmission Gully provided an alternative route, ‘‘we’ll be put on a backburner’’.

Mauricio Torrealba, the owner of Fisherman’s Table Restaurant just south of Paekākāriki, said he understood the need to fix the slip and do it properly, but the road closure was affecting his business.

Metlink general manager Samantha Gain said buses replacing trains would be escorted through the affected area by the roading contractor.