Update: SH31, road to Kāwhia closed for repairs before Poukai

SH31, the road to Kāwhia, will be closed on Thursday 7 March 2024 for road repairs to the under-slip west of Tirohanga Kāwhia the week before the poukai.

The serious damage above was caused at the beginning of last year when Cyclone Gabrielle ripped through the north island bringing widespread flooding and major damage to the roads.   

Next week, the old seal needs to be dug out on the site west of the Kawhia lookout on Thursday. The road will be closed from 8 am - 5 pm but will reopen for an hour as a single lane between 12 noon and 1 pm.

The road will be open for residents up to the work site but not through. On the other hand, the work site can be cleared to allow emergency vehicles to pass.

For light vehicles only, there is access in and out of Kawhia during the closure via SH39 to Ngutunui Rd, Pekanui Road, Okupata Road to Oparau, and back onto SH31. This is a collection of local roads with some unsealed stretches to navigate around Mt Pirongia, so care is advised.

Following the dig-out on Thursday, the resealing works will be completed under stop/go traffic management.

Works ahead on SH31 Kawhia Road will require day-time closures. 

While the first closure is on Thursday 7 March, this job is weather-dependent so if the repairs are rained out on Thursday, the contingency day has been moved from Tuesday 12 March to Friday 15 March.  This will be the backup day set aside when the road will be closed if an extra day is needed for repairs to be carried out.  

A bigger job is ahead in April which will require about three weeks of day-time closures. This is to fix an underslip that has developed adjoining where similar work was done last year.

More details, including dates for these closures, will be provided in the next few weeks.

Later this year, work will also be required to fix an additional underslip nearer Kawhia Harbour Road, which is currently under a single lane.