Fernside Road is now open to heavy vehicles and Mata Road will reopen at the end of the week, weather and geotechnical conditions permitting.

Ihungia Road remains open to four wheel drive vehicles only and a structural repair is required to make the road wide enough for heavy vehicles to pass.

Engineers, contractors and Council staff met this morning for a final technical report and to agree a repair and reopening process for all three routes – vital to local farming and forestry industries.

Journeys operations manager Donna McArthur said the safety of road users is Council’s first priority and understands the pressure the closures place on local industry.

“I’m very pleased with the work that has been achieved to date and the agreed strategy to reopen these roads. Considering the rain continued well into last week, this is a great result.

“In terms of Mata Road, we’ve agreed a repair process that will enable heavy vehicles to pass by this weekend, however only if there’s no movement of the hillside and road.”

Stop/go traffic management will be in place during the day while works continue and traffic lights at night.

For regular updates on all sites, see www.gdc.govt.nz/road-information.

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