People who usually travel between Greymouth and Stillwater on SH7 will need to keep using the detour on the north side of the Grey River via Taylorville until further notice.

The NZ Transport Agency will reassess the situation by 2 pm Friday this week, 11 October.

The West Coast highway was closed mid last week when a slow-moving slip at Omoto accelerated into a landslide Wednesday evening, requiring traffic to be detoured and the Tranzalpine rail journey to terminate at Arthur’s Pass.

The landslide has continued to move significantly but at a slightly slower rate over the past weekend, says Moira Whinham, Maintenance Contract Manager, for the Transport Agency on the West Coast.

“We are continuing to monitor the rate of slip movement and will keep the highway closed and the detour in place, for everyone’s safety,” says Ms Whinham. “Further investigation into remediation options are being progressed as quickly as possible.

“We apologise to local people who are inconvenienced by this detour and assure them we will be implementing whatever measures we can to manage ground movements and either stabilize or remediate the site.”

Web link for Omoto landslide ie open/ closed SH7 east of Greymouth: https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/roadclosures/270371

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