Road seal work around region wrapping up for holiday season

The detour sign from SH2 to Te Awa Ave only lasted one day as sealing crews quickly wrapped the work up.

The Te Awa Ave detour for traffic heading for the SH2 stretch between Ellison St and Awatoto on Monday was very temporary — one day only.

"It's quick work," New Zealand Transport Agency's Oliver Postings said on Monday, adding the timing of the work was crucial.

"There's a cruise ship in tomorrow.

"So this was our window of [work] opportunity."

Contractors made the most of the fair weather to reseal sections of the highway and while there were some queues of vehicles arriving at Ellison St from Te Awa Ave the delays were not major.

The sealing work was one of several being carried out across the region's highways.

Postings said contractors were aiming to wrap up a series of road improvement projects taking place at various spots along SH2.

On the southern stretch of SH2 between Hastings and Dannevirke seal widening work is being carried out at sites between Te Aute and Pukehou with speed restrictions in place along with occasional stop-go signalling.

"We expect to see these sites completed for the holiday period," Postings said.

There were more seal work programmes planned for the New Year.

Seal widening is under way between Waihua and Kotemaori on SH2 north while repair work is being carried out around Morere Hill and Mohaka.

Speed restrictions are in place and there are likely to be temporary delays for stop-go signalling.

Good progress has been made on drop-out repair work around Sandy Creek at Tutira in time for the expected surge of holiday season traffic.

Contractors are hoping to return the affected section of road to two lanes in the next few days as temporary widening is being constructed opposite the dropout.

"This will allow the currently set up traffic lights to be removed."

Dropout repairs are also continuing at Glencoe Gorge on SH50 and at Terapatiki on SH38, with give-way controls in place.