Rainstorm road clean-up continues on Hawke's Bay highways

One of the slips which smothered a section of SH2 near Raupunga and is still being cleared. Photo / Supplied

The early spring rain storms which swept through Hawke's Bay last week have left road crews with ongoing slip and dropout clearance work on three major highways.

"The main focus of work across the network for the next week is to clean up following last week's heavy rain," NZ Transport Agency journey manager Oliver Postings said.

Repair and removal crews are clearing slips across SH2 between Napier and Wairoa at several sites between Raupunga and Tangoio.

They are also clearing a section of the highway affected by a dropout in the Sandy Creek area near Tutira.

Temporary speed restrictions and stop-go signalling is in place at the slip sites while a temporary traffic light system has been installed around the dropout zone.

Motorists can expect some delays.

On SH5 between Napier and Taupo slip work is being carried out at sites between Eskdale and Tangoio and temporary speed restrictions are in place, with similar restrictions along parts of SH38 between Frasertown and Waikaremoana, which was also hit hard by slips.

At the Glencoe Gorge on SH50 there was a dropout and a temporary give way control is in place, although travel delays would be only slight.

During the south-easterly driven belts of rain, more than 300mm fell in parts of the Kaweka Range, around 200mm in the Wairoa district and one farmer near Napier recorded around 260mm of rain on his property.

Contractors are also carrying out seal-widening projects on the northern stretch of SH2 around Kotemaori and between Te Hauke and Te Aute on the southern stretch of SH2, and there will be occasional delays due to stop-go signalling and speed restrictions.

Speed restrictions are also now in place around the old existing entrance to Hawke's Bay Airport as the new Watchman Rd entrance at the roundabout is completed.

Postings said the restrictions would likely be in place for a couple of weeks as the old entrance was disestablished.

Temporary speed limits remain in place at the Pakowhai Links roundabout, which is now working in its final configuration, but only as one lane.

"Motorists are urged to take care as work continues on the approaches to the roundabout," Postings said.