Clearing the large slips on State Highway 1 to the north of Kaikoura will commence this week.
Over the last two months, engineers and work crews have been sluicing the slips by helicopter, making it safe for machinery and workers to move on-site, and doing the planning necessary to ensure that rapid progress is made once work begins.
“Throughout this process, the team has developed a work programme that will protect the environment and cultural values of the area while ensuring that we can deliver a more resilient and safer transport network,” says transport minister Simon Bridges.
“I’m confident that we will see strong progress in the weeks ahead as crews work both from the north and south to clear the slips and make each site safe for the rebuild to begin,” says Bridges.
Equipment has been moved on-site at Irongate, about 1km north of Blue Duck Road and the slip site 300m north of Ohau Point.
It is expected to take about three weeks to remove the Irongate slip and make it safe to build an access road around the site. This work will then enable the excavator to move north, creating access tracks around three other slips to reach Ohau Point.
Construction of these tracks will also open up some limited access for residents at Rakautara, isolated between the slips since November.
The slip clearance is expected to get underway within the next few weeks at Ohau Point, one of the biggest and most complex of the nine significant slips along this section of SH1.
Helicopter sluicing will continue for the remainder of the big slips, making these safe for clearance work to begin as soon as practical.
