SH43 Forgotten World Highway

Project update – 20 December 2023

Sealing the Tāngarākau Gorge - traffic impacts 2024

We’ve managed to get an enormous amount of work done in the Tāngarākau Gorge over past weeks. Since starting work in October, crews have:

• completed drainage and pavement works
• built 600 metres of underground stormwater pipes and surface concrete dish channel (gutters)
• built 155 metres of reinforced concrete roadside barrier beams
• upgraded 27 culvert pipes
• built 11 timber and rock retaining walls along a total length of 2.7 kms.

With this work completed, we’re in a strong position to finish the entire project to seal the road by the end of next year.

All work will stop between 22 December 2023 and 8 January 2024 and the road will be open at all times.

Next steps

Recently we secured additional funding to build a number of retaining walls in the gorge. The new retaining walls will help protect the road from dropping out during weather events, greatly improving the reliability of this route for locals and visitors. 

Due to the narrowness of the route, it’s much more efficient for us to do this work while the road is closed, so we are planning to put the road closures back in place from 9 January 2024 until approximately end of March 2024. 

The current closure times will remain the same. Between 9am – 12pm and 1pm - 3pm any through traffic will be stopped by a member of the team at the intersections of Moki Road and Heao Road so they can turn around before they reach the road closure.

From 7am to 8.30am and 3.30pm to 7pm people should plan for delays of up to 15 minutes. 

Residents will be permitted up to the road closure points at all times.

We know that this will be disruptive, but it will allow us to complete these additional improvements while still achieving the December 2024 project completion date. Alternatively, we could do this work under one-hour closures, but this would potentially push out project completion to 2025. 

Thanks for your ongoing support while we undertake these important works. Please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

Image below: Crews building concrete roadside barrier beams. 

Full steam ahead on Kahouri Stream Bridge

Crews are making great progress on the new 2 lane bridge over Kahouri Stream, east of Stratford. All the bridge foundations are complete, and the steel bridge beams are now being installed.

Expected to be complete by mid-2024, the new bridge will provide safer, more efficient journeys along the Forgotten World Highway for all vehicle types. 

The current bridge, built in 1908, remains structurally sound, and will be retained for people to walk and cycle across.

Image below: Bridge beams in place 

More information

For more information on the SH43 Forgotten World Highway project, contact us at fwh@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/fwh