34 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT South Wairarapa District Council T T Karen Phelps Road realignment improves resilience A major milestone has been the completion of the Hinekura Road Realignment with the road now open and functioning. South Wairarapa District Council is still working through the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle and other extreme weather events that have wreaked havoc across the region with multiple repair projects underway. “We are trying to reinstate infrastructure, looking at the resilience of the network and aiming to enhance it at the same time,” says South Wairarapa District Principal Roading Advisor Tim Langley. A major milestone has been the completion of the Hinekura Road Realignment with the road now open and functioning. It’s been a project that has taken a number of years after severe weather events and resulting slips made the road impassable on several occasions in 2020 and 2021. Tim says that the landslide had likely been active for many years and was prone to on-going movement and instability following heavy rain. Plans were subsequently developed by Greater Wellington Regional Council and WSP in consultation with the Council and community to mitigate the risk of further erosion and stabilise the landslide area and road. Work was close to being completed in May 2022 when another significant landslide in June that year left the road substantially damaged beyond repair. A decision was made to close the road to all traffic and pedestrians due to the high level of risk from the landslide that continued to move. Council’s maintenance roading contractor Fulton Hogan were the first responders after each event to keep alternative routes open and functioning. “A number of options were examined and the final decision, after consultation with the community, was to put the road back on roughly the same alignment through the slip, affordability was the main driver,” says Tim. The project’s main outcomes were to improve resilience through the Hinekura Road by mitigating the risk of long-term closures, reducing the frequency of all closures, and limiting the duration of all closures. “Natural events occurring through Hinekura Road cause a high number of road closures. The available detour routes are long and winding, resulting in significant delays and costs for users. Improving resilience (by reducing the frequency, duration, and risk for longer closures) through the Hinekura Road will have an economic benefit as it will reduce occurrences where users are forced to take long detours around the Hinekura.” PalmerstonNorth,NewZealand 0276722507 xkv8orz@gmail.com EarthmovingandMachineHire let's discussyournext project. Although not technically challenging, it was a massive project as Tim says the landslip was in excess of half a million cubic metres of earth and it moved the road vertically 80m and horizontally much the same. After a tender process Brownell Earthmoving was named the principal contractor. Tim says it was a very collaborative approach between council staff and Brownell Earthmoving utilising the contractor’s knowledge and expertise. Tim says that the project was basically a “massive earthmoving mission” followed by reinstatement of the road – re-contouring and re-aligning with drainage improvements. “It proceeded smoothly once we got going and decided how to attack it. Brownell Earthmoving’s expertise was invaluable and they delivered to Council’s budget” With extreme weather events on the rise Tim says South Wairarapa District Council is completing on-going work to increase the resilience of the infrastructure in the district with Fulton Hogan playing a key part in these maintenance projects.
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