The re-opening of Sumner Road has taken a major step forward, with a substantive contract awarded for risk mitigation works around Crater Rim Bluffs.

Sumner Road from Evans Pass to Lyttelton has been closed since the February 2011 Earthquake, due to earthquake damage and the risk posed by geohazards, including rockfall, cliff collapse, and landslides.

The Sumner Road reopening project, jointly funded by NZ Transport Agency and Christchurch City Council, will see this important roading link opened again. The road is a lifeline route for Christchurch, economically important as the link between Lyttelton Port and the city, and a popular recreational space with tourists and cyclists.

The re-opening of the road will help in limiting night-time closures of Lyttelton Tunnel and provide better access for the harbourside community.

The $12.21M contract has been awarded to McConnell Dowell (partnering with BECA, Doug Hood Mining and Geovert) for geohazard risk mitigation works around Crater Rim Bluffs, at the top of Sumner Road. It's the largest contract within the Sumner-Lyttelton Corridor programme, which aims to mitigate geohazards for road users and return the road corridor between the Sumner side of the causeway and Lyttelton to its pre-quake level of service.

The works within this contract are expected to take 20 months and be completed in early 2018.

Works will include source rock deconstruction by scaling the upper reaches of the Crater Rim Bluffs, with a 15 metre wide bench constructed at the base of the bluffs to protect the road from rockfall.

A rock bund will also be constructed in the gully to the west of the Crater Rim Bluffs to capture rockfall from the bluffs. The bund will be 4 metres high and 50 metres long, and covered with basalt cobbles to reflect the basalt stone walls in the area.

To enable the existing road to be used as a 'haul road' for excess rock from the excavation of the bench, structural works will be completed under the existing road. This avoids the need to construct a seperate haul road, saving time and money, and also makes a start on the repair work required to return the road to two-lane use.

Rockfall, cliff collapse, mass movement are hazards we’ve all heard a lot about following the Canterbury Earthquakes.
Since the earthquakes, we’ve learnt a lot about the risk these hazards pose to our homes, infrastructure, facilities and recreation areas.

Come to a drop-in session where Council staff will be available to outline slope stability hazards in your area, and answer questions you may have on the impacts these hazards have on your community.

The slope stability drop-in is being held:
Location:  Sumner Community Centre, 28 Wiggins Street, Sumner
Date: Tuesday 21 June
Time: Come along anytime between 12 noon and 2pm
PLEASE NOTE: The planned session for 16 June has been cancelled.
To give us an idea of numbers, please RSVP by emailing tara.king@ccc.govt.nz or phone 03 941 5938. Also please feel free to email any questions you may have on slope stability hazards in your area to the above email address. Let us know whether you’d like your queries answered at one of the sessions, or if you would prefer us to email you back if you are unable to attend.

Dependent on weather conditions, work will begin in the next two months removing up to 63,000 cubic metres of rock and soil from the cliff edge at Deans Head.

Up to half of the rock and soil will be placed in nearby Shag Rock Reserve, where a nine metre high, 300 metre long bund will be built to protect road users from cliff collapse and rockfall.

The shipping containers currently protecting the road from these hazards will be removed by the Council once the bund is built. LINZ has a resource consent for this work, which should take around 12 months to complete.

The two-lane road here will stay open while the work is being done, with a reduction in lane width, and speed limit reduced to 30km/hour.

Limited, short road closures (no longer than three minutes) may be required from time to time while rock scaling work is completed.

Excavation has started for the foundations for a bund to protect road users from cliff collapse, mass movement and rockfall in Wakefield Avenue.

The road is currently protected from these hazards by shipping containers.

Works have also started at the top end of the valley in Wakefield Ave, diverting stormwater and controlling water runoff. HEB Constructiuon will take around nine months to complete this work, finishing in early 2017.

Planting at the site may not be able to be done until winter 2017 to maximise the survival chances of the plants.

We want your views on the type of security fencing that will be installed along Main Road in Redcliffs and Sumner, to restrict access to hazardous areas.

The upcoming consultation comes after concerns from some groups in the community about the aesthetics of the fencing for hazard zones along the Sumner Lyttelton Corridor. Consultation will run for three weeks, starting on 27 June 2016, and include a drop-in-session in Sumner, where you can find out more.

There are limitations around the type of fencing, as it is vital that the fencing can not easily be climbed, and offers some transparency so people can see behind the fencing, and also blends into the environment. All feedback will be analysed by the project team, who will then make a decision on which type of fencing will be installed.

We are holding a drop in session for you to come and ask any questions you may have on the fencing options.

The fencing consultation drop in is being held:

Location: Sumner Surf Lifesaving Club, 301 Main Road, Sumner

Date: Monday 4 July 2016

Time: Come along anytime between 4:30pm and 6:30pm

Visit ccc.govt.nz/haveyoursay from 27 June for more information, and to share your views.

Vegetation clearance and rock scaling is complete at Moa Bone and Clifton, in preparation for second stage hazard mitigation works along the road corridor here.

Near Moa Bone Cave, work will begin this month on benching the slope to mitigate the risk from mass movement. Benching is cutting into the natural slope to create flat platforms. This is expected to take around four months, weather dependant.

Two red-zoned Crown-owned houses in behind the containers will be removed by LINZ, timed to coordinate with the benching work. Scaling the rock has reduced the rockfall risk for workers removing these houses.

Following the completion of scaling work at Clifton Hill, the Council is working with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) before agreeing on a safe start time for the rock wall and fencing to protect road users from the cliff collapse and rockfall risks here. Work should take around four months, finishing in October this year.