Road closure for State Highway 6 for emergency repairs

Closure from 1 November to 18 December 2022

2 December 2022

SH6 emergency repairs are on track

Finishing up week four, there has been significant progress at all sites, along with the additional maintenance and resilience work.

The culvert replacements are steaming along, with all three at Graham Stream completed. Work on another three culverts started at the bottom of the Whangamoa hill.

Despite another wet week, the teams  managed to complete concrete pours at all sites, with some of the sites now over the half-way point of their concrete construction. This work involves constructing a series of blocks  that build on the previous block created by pouring concrete into form work (a temporary mould).

The Whangamoa River scour site has also progressed well, with in-river works and the road realignment progressing as planned.

Heading into week five, the team are focused on a significant overslip site where we are excavating in the order of 10,000m3 of slip material from a steep hill slope above the road. The team are also building up each site toward the finished road level. The sites have now gone through the ground improvement process and construction of the main structures is well underway.

Site One

For week four, the team focused on getting the second lift underway in quick succession after the first pour late in week three. They have completed the backfill so that the third lift will be completed next week. A large culvert replacement next to the wall was also completed. Replacing this culvert required the track past the wall to be closed to construction traffic for around two days

The drilling team started drilling on Saturday evening and were able to complete nine anchors in a single shift.

Site Two

Additional excavation work of approximately 1000 tonnes was needed at site two. The team were able to complete the excavation on Thursday and recommence filling on Friday. With three weeks remaining to complete the fill, guardrail and road pavement, the team are working extended hours through the next two weekends.

Site Three

Site three is tracking along well, with the second of three blocks now complete. The team aim to complete the third block in the middle of next week.

Site Four

The focus for Site Four was to get drilling completed, as well as working on site concrete and the first structural concrete pour at the same time. This was achieved by preparing for the concrete during the day and drilling at night with additional crews brought in to keep to programme. 

The team are planning to complete the next concrete step in week five, as well as start the installation of the structural steel columns and timber lagging.

Images of the work sites

Below are the images of each of the work sites, from Site One to Site Four and an image of the road realignment and river protection works at the Whangamoa River.

Please note, the photos do not show all the crew and machinery that are actively using the site. 

Work in 2023 on SH6

We’re on track to reopen the road for the later part of the evening on Sunday 18 December.

We’ve heard from people that there are rumours of another full road closure in 2023. We currently have no planned longer periods of full road closure for 2023.

On Sunday 18 December, we are aiming to re-establish two lanes of road for the holiday season. We may need to return to complete minor repairs next year, and these may cause short delays under traffic management.

Support

Nelson City Council have also set up a single point of contact with ‘recovery navigator’ roles. You can contact the Nelson City Council’s recovery navigators on 03 546 0200 or email navigator@ncc.govt.nz

Marlborough District Council has a similar recovery navigator role, and you can contact them at recovery@marlborough.govt.nz