by John Wells
With the Government announcement of substantial additional funding for infrastructure repairs to Cyclone Gabrielle-ravaged northern Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/East Coast, now must be the time for Gisborne District Council to join forces with Wairoa District Council to lobby for long overdue improvements to the alignment of State Highway 2 south from Gisborne.
Travelling regularly down to Wellington, I have been increasingly disturbed (before the cyclones) by the disparity between SH2 conditions north and south of Napier.
While we struggle with many restricted alignments and speed restrictions north of Napier, there has been a continuous upgrading of the highway south of Napier through central and southern Hawke’s Bay such that it is now an almost unrestricted, nearly “freeway-standard” cruise to drive.
It has to be acknowledged that this is easy, rolling country and that traffic volumes are undoubtedly higher than through to Wairoa and Gisborne, but does that mean we have to be consigned to the “too hard basket” and condemned to isolation forever?
I am not contemplating large-scale deviations here. The road north from Napier to Wairoa has many tough, steep sections of terrain but there are also many kilometres of comparatively easy, rolling country — sections where two or three extra pipe-lengths of culvert or shaving a couple of metres off a low hill projection could remove a 55km restricted bend or S-bend at relatively low cost.
The alignment must have historically derived from horse and coach days into the automobile era in the 1920s and ’30s, when trucks had four wheeIs and if they could get to 55kmh that would have been a very good day!!
I believe much of this alignment remains in use today, with trucks having 30 to 40 wheels and capable of 120kmh or more.
I note and applaud the recent heavy excavation work being done for a passing-bay just uphill from the Mohaka viaduct — a project that would cover the cost of 10 or more of the improvements I am proposing.
On a trip south last year I logged 71 55km and lower speed-restricted bends in the 100km approximately between Wairoa and Bay View, or 119 if 65km and 75km restricted bends are included. Figures for Waipaoa to Wairoa were 27 and 65 respectively.
I am sure many drivers would agree that we can tolerate these restrictions in difficult country, provided we have a clear run through the not-so-difficult country.
Much of the cyclone recovery work will be in the difficult terrain from Tutira south through the Devil’s Elbow and I would assume the Waka Kotahi programmers and highway designers will factor-in any viable alignment improvements and consider deviations in those areas.
But let’s not forget the windy 5km of Bartletts ascent that has claimed lives and a number of heavy vehicle crashes at the Gisborne end of the Whareratas, and let’s make some inroads into the backlog of heavily restricted bends on our journey south.
In newscasts about Gabrielle, the impact of road damage on Wairoa is frequently mentioned but not the impact on Tairāwhiti/Gisborne and the East Coast. It is time for GDC to link with WDC and make it known that we are all reliant on this road south, and to ensure viable small alignment improvements are incorporated into the recovery programme.