SH1 Mangamuka closure piles costs on to Kaitaia businesses

Kaitaia businesses are grappling with another closure of SH1, just over a year since Mangamuka Gorge reopened last time. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Turnover at some Kaitaia businesses has dropped by up to 40 per cent as the main freight route into the Far North town remains shut with no reopening in sight.

State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Ranges was wrecked by at least 18 landslides in the deluge of August 18-19.

Many slips and slumps are expected to continue moving until the ground dries out in late spring, complicating any attempts to repair the damage.

The official detour is via SH10 but west coast residents are also making use of the Twin Coast Discovery route through Broadwood, Herekino and Ahipara.

The highway had only reopened 13 months earlier after a previous year-long closure due to a July 2020 storm.

Jay Sharp, owner of the Mobil service station at the south end of town, said his business had gone overnight from being the first petrol outlet motorists saw as they arrived in Kaitaia to the last.

As a result turnover was down by 30 to 40 per cent.

It's pretty major. We've already been through it last time it closed, and cheered when it reopened. Now we're booing again. It's been a tough couple of years."

One of many underslips which have undermined SH1 through the Mangamuka Ranges. Photo / Waka Kotahi

Currently the business had 14 staff and would usually ramp up to 18 for summer.

Now, however, with no indication of when the gorge would reopen, it was impossible to plan ahead.

Sharp said his workers would be looked after, as they were during Covid and the last closure.

His business was far from alone in losing income.

"It definitely hurts. It affects everyone far and wide."

Sharp said rumours the gorge would never reopen were flying around Kaitaia, but he dismissed them as "BS".

Kaitaia's Mobil service station has gone from being the first petrol outlet motorists see as they arrive in Kaitaia to the last. Photo / Clive Crombie

Kaitaia businessman Ian Walker, who owns a farm, Folders appliance store and a bookshop, said Mangamuka Gorge had always been problematic but its closure added significant extra costs.

The former regional councillor said he had long advocated for improvements to the gorge road.

Tourists didn't like using it so they drove up SH10 and bypassed Kaitaia, and it was so windy trucks couldn't use it without crossing onto the wrong side of the road.

"It's a real problem for Kaitaia in general, and when it's shut it's a nightmare."

Walker said his businesses relied on being able to offer products to Kaitaia customers at prices competitive with the big national chains, but transport costs meant that wasn't easy.

His carriers had told him the SH10 detour was costing them an extra $5000 to $6000 a week. They delivered to multiple customers but some of that extra expense would be passed on to him.

If the gorge had to be closed again for a year, he wanted to see a full geotechnical survey carried out and the road straightened and fixed properly, even if it cost twice as much.

The standard response to slip damage seemed to be "sticking on a plaster", Walker said.

One of many slips and slumps which have closed SH1 through the Mangamuka Ranges. Photo / Waka Kotahi

Kaitaia Business Association chairwoman Andrea Panther said the effect of the SH1 closures was "worse than Covid".

She called for government assistance for Te Hiku, both in the short term while the gorge was shut and in the long term by bringing Northland roads up to the standard enjoyed in other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Ann Court has repeated her invitation to Government ministers and top transport officials to see the Far North's roading woes for themselves.

Court wants to take ministers Kieran McAnulty and Kelvin Davis, Waka Kotahi regional boss Steve Mutton and a representative from freight lobby group Transporting NZ over Mangamuka Gorge by helicopter.

On the way back she would show them problems facing the SH10 detour, including its vulnerability to flooding, unsound bridges and increased congestion.

Court said after last month's floods the Government had rightly thrown large sums of money at the top of the South Island, which had also twice been visited by the Prime Minister.

The Far North, however, had been hit by the same weather event but had yet to see a single politician, Waka Kotahi executive or a dollar spent, she said.

McAnulty, who is the Minister for Emergency Management and Associate Minister of both Local Government and Transport, is due in the Far North next week to discuss Three Waters reforms.

Court and Mayor John Carter are urging him to repurpose the meeting and address the Mangamuka Gorge closure instead.