Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
With Christmas and the busy holiday season fast approaching, work to repair storm-damaged sites on State Highway 60 Tākaka Hill is progressing well.
Rob Service, System Manager for Nelson Tasman, says contractors are on track to have the road open to two lanes and resealed through all six recovery sites before the summer holidays.
“This was a key target for us. We appreciate how important it is for the community to have the route open during the busy holiday and summer season.
“We have used previous construction designs and techniques to speed up our work, and we have also used local contractors with local knowledge of the route. This has helped turn a 12-month job into a six-month one,” Mr Service says.
View larger map of SH60 Tākaka Hill recovery site map [PDF, 606 KB]
Site updates
The Pines
- Contractors have almost completed work at this site to repair an overslip and remove treefall risks.
- Over 20 trees have been removed, and the slope has been benched. Around 2,000 cubic metres of material have been removed from this site. New drainage has also been installed to help prevent water damage to the road.
- Remaining work includes building new concrete kerbs, road resurfacing, and erosion control.
The Pines, benching earthworks.
Cooks underslip
- This site suffered underslip damage after overland water and debris flows eroded the area under the road.
- Around 500 linear metres of steel posts and timber lagging have been used to repair this underslip site. 25 piles are embedded to a depth of 12 metres to help build a new four-metre vertical wall. A new kerb and culvert have also been installed to help improve drainage, and new pavement has been built in the uphill road lane.
- Some piling and tie-back work, as well as road resurfacing and line marking, still need to be completed.
Cooks underslip – ground beam construction and kerbing.
Goodall’s Straight
- Here, the road suffered both an underslip and an overslip at a very narrow section of highway.
- Twelve new drains have been drilled into this historic slip site to help remove water from the slope and improve its stability. A new ground beam is being built across the top of the underslip to support the road. Anchored mesh, covered with shotcrete, has also been installed to reduce erosion risk. The road has been widened, and kerbs and culverts have been upgraded.
- Work on the culverts, as well as some road and drainage improvements, still needs to be completed.
Goodall’s Straight – drilling and ground beam.
Forestry Corner (resilience site with more works planned in the future)
- The highway was damaged by slumping and subsidence in the outside lane.
- Drilling has been carried out to investigate the underlying geology at this site. Information from this work will be used to help develop a long-term solution for this section of the highway.
Drummond Slip
- This is a historic slip/slump site where additional deformation was detected after the weather event.
- Geotechnical work has been carried out to gather further information about the slip’s structure and form. As part of this work, new drains were installed to remove water from the site and improve its stability. A new and larger culvert has also been installed at this site, which will improve its resilience in heavy rainfall.
- Contractors are to complete a re-levelling and rebuild of the road where it has subsided. Asphalt will be used to enhance its resilience and help reduce future maintenance costs.
Drummond’s Slump, drilling and drainage.
Riders Slip
- Heavy rain washed out part of the outside lane of the road at this site.
- Work crews have cut back into the hill to ensure the road alignment sits on a stronger geological base. New drains, kerbs, and culverts have been installed. The slip site has also had new erosion control measures put in place.
- Road rebuilding will be completed during the upcoming planned maintenance closure on this route. Kerb and culvert work will also be completed during these closures.
Riders slip – installing counterfort drains.
Mr Service says following the damage caused by the winter storms this year, people have asked what steps are being taken to protect against future severe weather.
“It is a good question, given how critical the route is to people living and working in Golden Bay. What we are doing with our work on the route is similar to what was done on State Highway 6 between Blenheim and Nelson after the 2022 floods.
“We are building back at pace and adding extra resilience. The recovery works help future-proof these sites against weather-related damage in the future. We saw this on State Highway 6 during this year’s bad weather. Sites improved in 2022 performed well and helped keep the highway open,” Mr Service says.
He also says work on the route will continue, but not at the levels or disruption seen over the last few months.
“State Highway 60 Tākaka Hill is a critical link, a lifeline for the Golden Bay community. It requires constant monitoring and maintenance, and quick responses to significant events when they occur.
“In the meantime, I want to thank our contractors and the public for the patience and cooperation they have shown over the past four months while this work has been underway. The end is in sight and travel over the Tākaka Hill is about to get easier very soon,” Mr Service says.
Additional facts and figures
Other resources allocated to the recovery works underway on the Tākaka Hill include:
- 19 excavators
- 21 trucks
- One grader
- Two loaders
- Four rollers
- 50 workers
Upcoming maintenance closures
While recovery works are almost complete, drivers also need to be ready for planned maintenance closures for the Tākaka Hill due to begin on Monday, 24 November.
Daytime closures for chip sealing will be in place from Monday, 24 November to Friday, 28 November. They will be followed by night closures from Sunday, 19 November to Friday, 19 December.
More information about these works can be found on the NZTA/Waka Kotahi website:
