SH29 works rescheduled

Road works continue in early March over State Highway 29, the Kaimai Range. Due to poor weather conditions, a fortnight of work which was due to commence on Sunday 13th February was postponed for a week.

Recent works on SH29 have seen the introduction of one-way closures, with specific windows for travel in each direction between Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, to allow contractors sufficient space to work efficiently.

From Sunday 27th February through to Thursday 3rd March, there will be two, three and a half hour windows each night to allow traffic to pass through in one direction only. The timetable for these nights is as follows:

8pm to 9pm - SH29 will be fully closed to all traffic while the site is being set up.

9pm to 12.30am - SH29 will be open to traffic from the east (Bay of Plenty) to the west (Waikato).

12.30am to 1am - A full road closure will be in place to allow for the change of traffic direction.

1am to 4.30am - SH29 will be open to traffic travelling from the west (Waikato) to the east (Bay of Plenty).

4.30am to 5:30am - Final closure to allow the site to be made safe for the resumption of two-way traffic during the day.

Waka Kotahi says one long window for traffic in each direction rather than more frequent, but shorter, windows helps to avoid lengthy queues of vehicles waiting for their turn to cross the Kaimai Range. With a longer window, drivers, especially those in trucks, can plan their journey with greater certainty as the detours are significant. During the day, the road was to reopen to two lanes, and there will be reduced speeds through areas that had been recently resealed.