The final phase of recovery work on State Highway 2 at Otoko Hill, north of Gisborne, is about to get underway.

From next week (4 August), two sites on SH2 between Hihiroroa Road and Otoko Walkway East Entrance (Mahaki Entrance) will be under stop/go traffic management, with delays of up to 5 minutes at each site expected.

The Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC) alliance is completing the work, on behalf of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

The stop/go traffic management will be in place Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm.

During the construction period, crews will be concentrating on two sites – site K and site M (please refer to attached map for reference).

• Site K will take approximately 8 weeks to complete with crews focusing on repairs to an overslip. 48 drains will either be installed or upgraded as part of this work to help reduce pressure in the hill and subsequent movement in the road.  
• Site M will take approximately 12 weeks to complete repairs to an underslip. These repairs include the installation of extensive drainage and construction of a buttress (supporting structure), similar to other recovery works undertaken in the area.  

“This is a significant milestone for our communities, contractors and the TREC team that has been a part of the recovery works on Otoko Hill. It’s been just over a year of intensive but essential works and we’re pleased to be entering this final phase and leaving a more reliable and safer corridor for road users,” said TREC Project manager Richard Bayley. 

Otoko Hill

Since Cyclone Gabrielle, the focus has been on repairing and resurfacing the road, with a number of underslips fixed, before the focus turned to stabilising the hill surrounding the road and improving drainage to minimise the potential for slips to move again in the future.

“This is such a crucial piece of road for everyone who uses it, but in particular, the freight industry travelling between Bay of Plenty and Gisborne.

“One of the primary focuses during the Otoko Hill work has been installing extensive drainage systems. As with so many roading projects, water is our biggest issue, we have to do as much as possible to draw it out of the hillsides, before the damage is done,” says Mr Bayley.

Since work began last winter, 9 recovery sites along Otoko Hill have been successfully completed. The final 2, Sites K and M, will bring the total to 11. 

“We expect to be complete by Christmas and we really appreciate everyone’s understanding as we move through this phase.”

View larger map [JPG, 373 KB]