State Highway 73 at Otira Gorge has reopened to a single lane after a slip blocked the highway over the weekend.
However, motorists trying to connect between Canterbury and the West Coast are warned to expect delays over the next few days, with access limited to 10 minutes on the hour between 8am and 7pm.
“This will continue for several days so crews can remove the remaining slip material and make the highway safe for two lanes of traffic again,” New Zealand Transport Agency journey manager Lee Wright says.
The revised estimate for the size of the slip, between Aickens and Jacksons at Deception Point, is between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic metres, Wright says.
About 9000 cubic metres of material was removed on Sunday.
Power lines were also affected by the slip, which means the railway crossing warning lights on the West Coast side of SH73 to Greymouth won’t be operational.
KiwiRail will be manually controlling these crossings.
Drivers can take the other highway through the Lewis Pass via State Highway 7 if they want to avoid delays at the slip site.
For information on the latest driving conditions, go to the Traffic and Travel map on the Transport Agency’s web page, or phone 0800 4HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49).
