Manawatu Gorge's closure hurting local business as crash highlights frailty of alternative link

Traffic was flowing freely on the Saddle Rd on Saturday but motorists experienced long delays yesterday after a truck accident on the road. Photo / Christine McKay

The frailty of Hawke's Bay's major road link with Manawatu and State Highway 1 was highlighted when a secondary route was closed for about four hours yesterday because of a truck crash.

The crash on Saddle Rd, which brought down power lines but didn't cause any serious injury, came as the closure of the major route - State Highway 3 through the Manawatu Gorge - entered a seventh week, and news it could go into an eighth.

Dannevirke bus company owner Derek Rose said yesterday: "This closure is costing me thousands of dollars."

Rose's company runs two buses, seven days a week, from Dannevirke to Palmerston North.

But he says the closure is hitting him in the back pocket, and there is no compensation for him or others, such as the Woodville businesses, hit by the downturn in trade.

"It's getting unbearable," he said. "For NZTA to find another dropout when the gorge was due to open . . . Well, if they'd looked over the side they would have seen that crib wall.

"Now we've been told the situation won't be reviewed until next Monday."

The Saddle Rd has been the main route since the gorge closed on April 24 after a series of slips and a dropout. Nearly 5730 vehicles travel the detour route each day.

But Rose said he didn't believe the Saddle Rd would stand up as a state highway, which the region's mayors have proposed.

"They must be joking," said Rose, who believes it's time for overseas experts to be brought in. "The Saddle is never going to be suitable. It has no solid foundation, it's far too steep and the Ashhurst bridge is in the wrong place. That whole road would need rebuilding. Instead, the money needs to be put into the gorge."

"Someone needs to be pressured to get the road through the gorge opened," he said.

A meeting of council leaders and regional land transport committee heads from the Manawatu and Hawke's Bay sides of the Tararua and Ruahine ranges has been postponed.

It was to have been held yesterday in Palmerston North, but Hawke's Bay regional councillor and regional transport committee chairman Alan Dick said the gorge would be discussed at a later meeting of Manawatu region leaders.

"We've told them we'd appreciate being kept in the loop," he said.

"I've sent them a message of support, reiterating that we are pretty interested in the links between Hawke's Bay and Manawatu, and the alternative routes."