State Highway 2: Hopes for no-hitches Waikare highway rebuild

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little is hopeful the long-awaited State Highway 2 Waikare Realignment between Napier and Wairoa can go ahead without a hitch after resource consent was lodged with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

Government highways management agency NZTA Waka Kotahi’s consent application was publicly notified on February 3 and submissions close on March 4. The regional council reported that, by Friday morning, no submissions had been received.

The community of Putorino at the Napier-Wairoa road mid-point, landmarked by the Waikare Hotel, which closed five years ago and which will be bypassed by the realignment, was consulted in earlier stages of the planning.

The Waikare River bridge between Napier and Wairoa, with the wrecked old bridge and the temporary replacement, is a focus point for the Waikare Realignment. Photo / NZME

Little is unaware of any opposition to the new road, saying that as long as the landowners have been “kept in the loop” there should be no difficulties.

“It’s got to happen,” he said.

The deviation, effectively bypassing the troublesome Waikare Gorge, has long been regarded as the next big step on the nearly 120 kilometres of the Napier-Wairoa road since the opening of the Matahorua Gorge Realignment in 2011, with 3.1km of new highway and new 137m viaduct across the gorge.

But it has become a more urgent project since Cyclone Gabrielle’s destruction of the Waikare River bridge, currently replaced by a temporary Bailey bridge.

Estimated to cost about $250 million, the realignment comprises 3.9km of new highway and a 160m bridge – one of the highest in New Zealand at 60m above the river, about 10m higher than the Mohaka bridge on State Highway 5.

Other bridges, culverts, underpasses, constructed wetlands, wetland restoration and stream restoration are included. The consent is sought for the construction, maintenance and improvement of the proposed state highway and associated infrastructure.

It is forecast that the realignment could be in use in 2027, although the devastation caused by the cyclone a year ago, and by ongoing weather events, has sparked calls for even more urgent work on the road, including Devil’s Elbow to the south of the realignment.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.