Hastings District Council repairs of hundreds of slips damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle is advancing, with one package of works to remediate 11 major slips on Taihape Rd now close to completion.
In the wake of the storm, Council says more than 800 slips were recorded across the district, with most of the smaller ones quickly cleared and repaired. Of the total, 166 were major, complex slips requiring investigation and major reconstruction, 11 of those sited on Taihape Rd – a critical route connecting the Rangitikei and Hastings districts.
Work on these slips began in August last year, carried out by contractor TW Civils & Infrastructure and their sub-contractors TW Traffic Management, Toa and Lattey Group, and as of this month, 10 of the 11 slip repairs had been completed.
“This has been a large project with our contractors working across multiple sites at the same time to get the work completed as efficiently as possible,” said Hastings Mayor, Sandra Hazlehurst.
“It’s been really vital to get this work done and make this road resilient given it connects the Hastings and Rangitikei districts, and is an important alternative if SH5 is closed.”
The works have included building retaining structures and walls to support soil movement, repairing dropouts along the road, and completing drainage and pavement improvements. Work has been paused at one remaining site due to the discovery of the protected species barking gecko (moko kākāriki).
Endemic to the lower North Island of New Zealand, these geckos are categorised as ‘at risk’, and as such Council and partners are working with the Department of Conservation to ensure measures are taken to protect this threatened species ahead of any repair work.
