Steps taken to fix Northern Hawke's Bay roads and rivers - last of PGF projects

The realignment of 200m of the Nuhaka River, before it was completed last month. Photo / Supplied

The last of three Provincial Growth Fund projects announced for the Wairoa District less than five months ago is nearing completion as workers prepare to remove a Bailey Bridge near a dropout on a coastal Mahia Peninsula road.

Part of Kaiuku Rd will be closed on the weekend of November 7-8 for the removal of the bridge which was installed in June last year at the Rangatahi dropout.

A $1.2 million contract is being carried out by Quality Roading and Services (QRS) and it is hoped to have the road back to two lanes before Christmas.

It was part of a $2.5m PGF announcement in May for work in the Whakaki-Nuhaka-Mahia area, and already completed are the rechannelling 200m of the Nuhaka River, to avert possible a major slip problem that has existed since the days of Cyclone Bola 32 years ago, and replacement of a bridge which had been closed last year, limiting access to a urupa near Whakaki.

Mayor Craig Little said the jobs had to be ready to go in order to get the funding.

The river work stemmed from the March 1988 flooding which created a new channel at the base of a hill, carving away at a hill over the years and aggravating a massive, slow-moving slip, threatening both the river and the road alongside it.

With the collaboration of the Wairoa and Hawke's Bay Regional councils, iwi, QRS and sub-contractor Pryde Contracting, the river has been realigned to its original channel, which was opened last month.

It was a decade since the hill started slipping, and almost five years since iwi authority Te Iwi o Rakaipaaka gave its approval in principle for the work to go ahead.

Regional council area manager Nathan Heath said: "For me the cool thing is that, even with the tight timeframes, we were able to follow through with all the appropriate protocol, from ecological to cultural, to ensure the job was done right."

The day after the realignment was complete, the Nuhaka School community helped marine scientist Shade Smith relocate any remaining fish and tuna from the old channel.

QRS manager Nigel Pollock said: "It could not have gone better. "The river going where it should be is positive proof of that synergy between vision, funding, design, planning and execution."