State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyn Hills has opened this morning, Friday 31 March, in both directions for the first time since Cyclone Gabrielle hit last month.

Traffic management and a temporary speed limit will be in place so that northbound and southbound traffic can travel in both directions in time for Easter, which will see an increase in vehicles travelling to and from Northland.

The road will then need to close in both directions from 17 April for two weeks to complete major earthworks and drainage installation before permanently opening the road in May.

Jacqui Hori-Hoult, regional manager maintenance andoOperations at Waka Kotahi said that teams on the ground have been working hard in tricky conditions to re-open the road so that local road detours aren’t impacted by high volumes of holiday traffic.

“The team has put in a huge amount of mahi to get the road open in both directions and I am immensely proud of our people, contractors and consultants who have worked tirelessly over the past two months. We know however that we still have a lot of work to do to provide access as usual to Northland road users.

“To date we have cleared approximately three Olympic sized swimming pools of material from the Brynderwyn Hills, but there is still the equivalent of another twenty to go,” she said.

“There are up to seven teams working through the site at any given time, clearing multiple over slips and cutting tracks to access the top of the major slip. At the major underslip they have installed 48 reinforcing bars and concreted so that the road could open.”

Teams will also be installing anchors in a retaining wall and configuring barriers.

“While the road will be open, we’ll be closely monitoring it along with the weather. We won’t hesitate to close the road at short notice should conditions become unsafe for road users,” Hori-Hoult said.

“We know that this route is a crucial connection to and from Northland for both people and freight, so getting it fully reopened is a priority.”