Checkpoint sign to be removed
The checkpoints are gone but a sign alerting motorists entering Taranaki from the north that the province is closed to nonessential travel remains.
Te Ko¯ta¯hitanga o Te Atia¯wa chairwoman Liana Poutu said the checkpoint was in operation from April 28 until May 8 and the sign would be removed before the Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
The yellow and white sign was erected by Taranaki iwi at Moka¯ u to alert motorists to a checkpoint where their destination would be registered. If they were nonessential, the sign stated they should be prepared to turn back.
A second checkpoint was manned at Pa¯ tea, South Taranaki while road signs, without checkpoints, were in place at Pio Pio, Taumarunui and Kai Iwi.
‘‘We haven’t had time to take it down but will do so before the weekend,’’ Poutu said.
The checkpoint operation team collected enough information during the 10 days it operated to help with modelling data, she said.
Poutu said 32 per cent of motorists checked at Moka¯ u were travelling between regions during the lockdown when no
‘‘We had no incidents, and we collaborated with police, it was a good relationship between us.’’
Liana Poutu Te Ko¯ta¯hitanga o Te Atia¯wa chairwoman
regional travel was permitted.
‘‘We had no incidents, and we collaborated with police, it was a good relationship between us.’’