Temporary traffic management on SH1 though the Mangamuka Gorge will be removed on Friday, allowing two lanes of traffic in both directions through the gorge from 18:00pm, including over dimensional vehicles.

This is the first time the entirety of the gorge has been open since a one in 500-year storm event in July last year caused a number of slips, prompting significant remedial work.

While the majority of those repairs were completed earlier this month, traffic management has remained in place across a 200m stretch of the gorge to protect crew who were finishing off work on the longest retaining wall and to allow for the painting of a mural.

However, heavy rains in the area have hampered work on the mural, with the wall needing to be fully dry in order for temperature sensitive paint to be applied.

This work will now be completed at a later date.

A temporary speed limit of 50km will remain in place past the largest site (slip 8) at the top of the gorge.

Waka Kotahi thanks motorists for their cooperation and understanding and urges road uses to be mindful of changes to the road layout.

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