TREC Hawke's Bay recovery update

7 March 2025

Tēnā koe,

In this update we highlight a project where road and rail meet, share progress on some of our State Highway 2 (SH2) Devil’s Elbow sites and introduce some new projects currently in design.

Tight work to keep rail freight moving around a ‘block of line’

Construction started two weeks ago at a KiwiRail site in Pakipaki, just south of Hastings. This is the closest section where road and rail meet for TREC teams delivering Cyclone Gabrielle recovery work. This means managing traffic on SH2 as well as freight trains to keep everyone safe.

Part of the repair required removing a section of track to repair the culvert underneath. To do this the site had a ‘block of line’ over a weekend with trains temporarily stopped from using this section of track.

A block of line is a period of time when a railway line is closed for maintenance or construction. It is carefully managed by breaking down tasks by the hour over 24-hour periods. There’s no room for error because the block of line has a specified end point. In this block of line the first train was due at 12:30pm on Monday after the track was reopened.

It was a successful weekend of work, with the area repaired ahead of schedule. Minor works will be completed this week under normal train management systems.

Local contractor Galbraith, undertaking the 'block of line' over the weekend to allow freight trains to keep moving during the working week.

SH2 Devil’s Elbow update

Project H on track for completion this month

We’re making good progress at Project H on four shallow underslip and scour repairs.

Work includes ground stabilisation (soil nailing) and shotcrete (sprayed liquid concrete) retaining walls. To improve water run-off and protect the road we’ve also extended the culvert and improved drainage.

We started this project in November 2024 and expect to complete it this month.

Nightworks planned for Project O

To get the lower section of Devil’s Elbow back to two lanes (and 90km/h) for Christmas 2024 we completed work at all sites – including getting Project O to a safe point.

We have revised part of the initial design for Project O and are replacing the concrete retaining wall with a concrete ground beam. Work will be undertaken at night to reduce impact for road users. During the day we will have two lanes open with an expected temporary speed limit of 50km/h, or 30km/h if there is a hazard.

At night we will have traffic lights with a possible delay of up to 5 minutes.

A safety barrier and line marking will complete the work here. Night work will likely begin in early April and take 3-4 weeks to complete. If the start date is delayed, we’ll push it out until after ANZAC Day so we don’t impact holiday traffic.

First stage of works at Project I (Devil’s Corner) complete

Enabling works are now complete at Project I (Devil’s Corner). Contractors have finished constructing the 120m long temporary works to support the state highway before permanent works started (last week). Check out our timelapse below to see the great progress the team made drilling 633 nails through over 4km of drilling, and excavating 500 truckloads of material.

Four new sites currently in design

Four new Hawke’s Bay sites are currently going through the design process and construction will start later this year.

• SH2 Lake Tūtira - underslip repair with a potential buttress (supporting structure). The work is expected to start in August and run through to November.
• SH2 White Pine Bush – repairing another underslip and storm water drainage, including a potential buttress. This work is scheduled to start in late July and run through to November.
• SH5 Eskdale Substation – fixing the damaged road shoulder with a potential buttress to support the road. Repairs  are  expected  to start in August and run through to November.
• SH5 Captain’s Culvert further improvements – repairing drainage and storm water discharge above the storm water outlet with rip rap, and road surface rebuild. Timing is still to be confirmed but is likely early Spring (in the next construction season) and will take about a month. 

We will share more information, including any potential traffic impacts, when we have more details.

The green, green grass of home

As TREC continues to tick off recovery projects, road users might notice green hillsides replacing construction sites across Hawke’s Bay’s state highways.

‘Hydroseeding’ is often one of the final jobs on a site and helps in several ways - preventing erosion, improving soil health, and reducing dust. Plus, it makes the area look better!

The process involves using a large hose to spray a mixture of water, seeds, mulch and fertiliser onto the surface to promote growth.  TREC monitors the growth until it is nicely settled in and doing its job.

The grass is greener at Captain's Culvert, SH5.

Site snapshot

SH2 Hawke’s Bay North

• Repairs at Mohaka Rail Viaduct, the final site in this area, are planned to start late March.
• Slip stabilisation at Sandy Creek continues to make good progress and is expected to be finished by the end of April.
• The road surface where we installed the sheetpiling retaining wall at Sandy Creek will be renewed alongside some NZTA road surface renewals as part of their annual maintenance programme. These will be done in the next couple of months.
• White Pine Bush underslip repairs (a new site – see above) will likely begin late July.

SH5 Napier to Taupō

• Permanent repairs for the three underslips at Māori Gully are starting next week, 10 March. We have worked on designs for this site with Heavy Haulage to ensure over dimensional vehicles can be accommodated. 
• Tarawera Culvert will begin in the second half of the year, and Captain Culvert repairs will begin in Spring.

SH38

• Tarapatiki underslip repairs are planned to start in late March/early April and will take about a week.

SH2, SH50, SH51 Hawke’s Bay South

• At SH50 Glencoe Gorge underslip repairs we’ve stripped back the slope face and prepared the foundation ready for the retaining wall. 
• SH51 Tutaekuri (Waitangi) Bridge repairs are planned to start in early May.

Rail repairs

Four sites are completed, including:

• The culvert and repair of the washout (upstream and downstream of the culvert) at Piripiri, just north of Dannevirke.
• A shallow landslide above the track just north of Papatawa.
• The bridge embankment washout at the Ashhurst rail bridge.
• The washout and bank slumping on Mangatera Stream under Bridge 145 just north of Dannevirke.

Three sites are underway, including:

• Repairing a shallow landslide and drainage work north of Papatawa.
• Repairing the stream washout of the rail embankment in Takapau.
• Repairing the washout and replacing the retaining wall in Pakiaki. As mentioned in the rail story above, this site will be complete this week with traffic management coming off the state highway beside the rail site.

Starting in March:

• Starting Monday 10 March, we are repairing the embankment failure below the rail, south of Kopua.
• Three sites in the Manawatū Gorge accessed by hi-rail: two are rockfall scaling, and the other site is to repair the shallow landslide above the track.
• We will begin two sites close together south of Makotuku. One of these sites we will repair the washout below Bridge 151, and the other we will repair the washout of the embankment and the shallow landslide above the track and replace the damaged culvert.
• In Ormondville we will repair a shallow landslide above the track. This is one of six sites between Ormondville and Kopua.

Bridge 217 (beside SH51 Tutaekuri Bridge) is programmed to begin the next stage of repairs in July.

Whakapā mai – Get in touch

• Email us
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• Call us: 0800 80 TREC (0800 80 8732)

If you spot an issue at a work site after hours, call 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 444449).

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Local road network

Hawke’s Bay councils are responsible for local roading recovery projects.

• Napier City Council
• Hastings District Council
• Wairoa District Council
• Central HB District Council