Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is starting four weeks of work this Monday 6 March rebuilding a 500-metre section of highway and doing drainage work through the Hakataramea area on SH82. The work area is between Station Peak and Kurow on the Hakataramea Highway.

“As this is a narrow section of highway, to do this work safely and protect our work crews and road users from machinery in a tight space, we will use manual traffic management and allow road users through on the hour while work is underway,” says Waka Kotahi Maintenance Contract Manager for South Canterbury John Keenan.

• The road will open for 10 minutes on the hour every hour from 7am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, to let traffic through.
• People can expect up to 50 minute delays at each end if they arrive after an opening.
• At nights (6pm to 7am), on the weekends and over the Easter (7-9 April) the road will be open under a temporary speed restriction until it is surfaced and line marked.

Around 550 vehicles use this road each day, says Mr Keenan. “It can be a favoured route to the lakes and inland Otago on weekends and at Easter, so we want people to be aware of the delays before they set off and build in the extra time for their journey.”

Downer is the contractor working for Waka Kotahi on this project.

Electronic message boards have been placed on the highway this week to advise regular users of the delays from next week and over the following four weeks.

• There are no suitable short detour routes around this work site however road users can use the alternative Pukeuri to Kurow route (SH1 and SH83) to the south to bypass the delays on SH82. This is expected to add another 25 minutes to the usual 50-minute trip for Waimate to Kurow.
• Updates on the SH82 project here: https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/roadworks/417287
• For further information: Downer 03 687 2751 or Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency 0800 44 44 49 (0800 4 Highways).

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