By Natalie Bridges
It has been closed since May's floods but work to repair the damage inflicted by landslides and restore some sense of normality has begun on Hinewa Rd in Otumoetai.
The Tauranga City Council project to build an 80 metre-long retaining wall to protect the bank from further slips started
on November 22 and is due to be finished by February next year, weather permitting.
The road, footpath and immediate surrounding area will be reinstated along with a re-sloping of the embankment, allowing vehicles to drive from one end of the road to the other for the first time in seven months.
Basic services such as the water and sewer line, which received some damage during the flood, will also be relocated.
The total cost of the repairs is expected to be $500,000.
The flood damage which caused the bank around the hillside on Hinewa Rd to drop away occurred during a traumatic half hour on May 18, leaving one house poised on the edge of a chasm and others in the vicinity with extensive structural damage.
Police evacuated about 10 other homes around the upper circle of the slip, encompassing Lemon Grove Ave and Hinewa Rd.
Residents under threat below in Balmoral Tce and Landscape Rd were also evacuated. The worst affected homes have since been demolished.
