Far North Mayor Moko Tepania is calling for long-term solutions for the slip-prone Mangamuka Gorge as closures continue despite major investment in the vital route’s resilience.
The 13km section of State Highway 1 connecting Hokianga and Kaitaia has been prone to slips and closed for repairs for around three out of the last four years.
It opened just before last Christmas after more than two years of closure and $204 million worth of work.
However, ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam forced it to be shut off again last month, with two slips closing it for three days.
1News spoke to several locals who said there was a “nervousness” now whenever it rained.
“I think, ‘gosh, it’s shut down, I’m not gonna be able to get up to Kaitaia, how long for’?” one woman said.
Another said she was “not surprised” when the road was closed again during Tam.
“When it was reopened, we were told then that it was a possibility that the maunga could come down again. We were prepared, if the maunga doesn’t want us to cross it, it will close.”
Tepania said torrential rain could be “triggering” to residents now.
“You feel for our whānau straightaway, it’s time and time again, like ‘oh no, it’s happened again’.”
He said the Far North was “forever grateful” for the contractors and the funding to fix and reopen the road but further funding and investigation was needed to increase the resilience of the network.
“The current methodology that we apply is build-to-fix, but only what we’ve fixed, and then we wait until other sections of the roadway will fall, or slip, or go, before we come in retrospectively to try and get the funding or fight to keep it open.
“How about we get on the front foot? Be proactive rather than reactive for the livelihoods of our people in the Far North.”
NZTA project director Mark Ware said the initial work to clean up the 36 slips focused on fixing the “really significant ones” that occurred but acknowledged more would occur in the future.
“We have done resilience work around drainage to remove water off the road quickly, so we can address that issue around seepage and remove some of that risk of slips, but we will always have them, and our job is to react to them quickly.”
The regional land transport plan, which was renewed every three years, shaped the district’s roading priorities.
“We have a limited budget, we can’t do everything,” Ware said, adding that the council worked with NZTA to set these priorities.
Ware said NZTA was confident the gorge had another century in it or more and that cleaning up the hazards would be faster and would not take years of closure.
“We hope not, we can’t promise it, but we hope not.”
