Kaikōura road and rail rebuild bumped back

Thursday, 8 August 2019

A seawall being built along the Kaikōura coast is affected by the tide.

Travellers along the Kaikōura coast can expect construction delays for another year after its final finish date was bumped back.

Work to rebuild road and rail was expected to wrap up in late 2019, but has since been postponed to late 2020, following what would be four years of repairs and over five million work hours into the project.

A North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) spokeswoman said the extension came after work was added to the programme by fixing the inland route to Waiau, south of Kaikōura.

'Given the importance of that road to Kaikōura, the decision was made to add that work into the programme, given the people and the machinery were in place to do it and the budget allowed it,' she said.

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About $30 million was being spent on the inland road.

Reconstruction at multiple spots along State Highway 1 through the Hundalees was also being included in the final leg of work, contributing to programme delays, the spokeswoman said.

NCTIR board chair Steve Mutton said the rebuild was nearing its 'final stage' after a work package was signed off earlier this year.

Teams were currently finishing up five safe stopping areas and making safety improvements to the route, such as realigning sections of road, installing double centre lines and installing safety barriers.

A permanent route for State Highway 1 past Jacob's Ladder is being built, to replace the temporary road closer to the sea.

The resilience of the Main North Line, between Picton and Christchurch, was also being improved at several sites, he said.

Design elements were being hammered out between NCTIR, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura to ensure the cultural and historical importance of Kaikōura was reflected in the structures being built.

Safe stopping areas were also getting a landscape makeover to help integrate them into the Kaikōura coast environment.

Earthquake recovery works and road improvement works should be completed by about October next year, while rail works should be completed about September, ahead of Route 70 works about August.

Construction was then set to wind down, with NCTIR's handover to the Kaikōura District Council scheduled in December.

Mutton said the works would come under the Crown's $1.2 billion budget, after it announced it would foot the repair bill in July 2017.

The first post-earthquake passenger train carried the Prime Minister and some of the rebuild workers who made it possible.

NCTIR still had 'close to' $260m in spending money left, he said.

Mutton said people had worked five million hours to move mountains of slip material and repair the quake-damaged route along State Highway 1 after the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. The road reopened on December 15, 2017, one year and one day after the quake.

Workers had since reopened the Raramai and Paritiahi road tunnels to two-way traffic, opened a safe stopping area at Ōhau Point and resumed Coastal Pacific passenger services on December 1, 2018.

'I'd like to acknowledge all the women and men who worked those hours in all sorts of conditions, and those who continue to come to work each day to help build a uniquely special transport corridor for the people of Kaikōura and its many visitors,' Mutton said.

He said the rebuild was a project everyone could be proud of.

People could check real-time travel information before leaving at 0800 4 HIGHWAY (080044 44 49) or at the NZTA website.