Highway to close for Central Hawke’s Bay community clean-up

Volunteers picked up a tonne of rubbish when they cleaned up State Highway 2 between Waipawa and Waipukurau in 2022.

State Highway 2 will be closing for a few hours on Sunday, September 22 for a Central Hawke’s Bay District Council-led community clean-up.

The event, part of Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week, was run in 2022 on the same stretch of road.

In 2022, more than 80 clean-up volunteers picked their way over 5km of a temporarily closed State Highway 2, collecting over a tonne of rubbish in three hours.

And what did they find? Tyres, energy drink cans, paper bags, food wrappers, beer bottles and plastic straws, empty cement bags, kids’ toys, pie wrappers, a sheet of contraceptive pills, bike helmets, concrete blocks, bits of plasterboard, hubcaps, jandals, Christmas decorations, a Tigger soft toy, cellphones, credit cards, a chilly bin, a DVD player, lots of masks, a mattress, six screwdrivers, a tie-down and hundreds of cigarette butts.

This year, the road will close for four hours from 9am until 1pm.

The clean-up session will have volunteers planting new plants alongside the road and clearing weeds in the area.

A signposted detour will be in place.

Northbound road users will be detoured on to Lindsay Road just north of Waipukurau and on to Ongaonga Road just south of Waipawa before rejoining SH2.

The detour will be in reverse for southbound road users.

The detour will add up to 20 minutes to the journey from Waipawa to Waipukurau. The detour route is suitable for all vehicles, including high-productivity motor vehicles (HPMV) and 50Max.

Transport Rebuild East Coast contractors, on behalf of New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) will also use this closure for other planned work, including wire rope repairs, weeding and road sweeping.

NZTA and Central Hawke’s Bay District Council wish to thank road users for their patience during the community clean-up closure.