Today is the day the Gorge reopens

It has been a long and difficult path back to restoring the highway from its state in the photo above. From today, Wednesday 30 June at 6pm, the SH1 route through the Far North will be open to all vehicles (except over dimension vehicles).

Thank you for going on this journey with us and for your patience and understanding during a major priece of work.

We encourage everyone to drive carefully as the road alignment has changed and road shoulders have been reshaped.

We will be allowing vehicles through from 6pm. Temporary traffic management will be in place for a small section of the Gorge where it will be reduced to one lane. This will give our remaining crew enough space to be able to finish work on the largest retaining wall.

Facts of the matter

About 200 people worked on the project over the last year

Almost 8,000 cubic metres of dirt fell away from the major slips down to the river

800 cubic metres of concrete was poured at the main site – one concrete truck holds six cubic metres

There are five new retaining walls through the Gorge. The largest one is 135m long and 4m high

More information

For more information on the SH1 Mangamuka Gorge slip repairs, contact us at northlandproject@nzta.govt.nz

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