SH1 over the Brynderwyns in Northland won’t reopen for long weekend traffic

Work is continuing on clearing slips from the Brynderwyns but SH1 over the hills won’t be reopened in time for the long weekend.

State Highway One over the Brynderwyns is unlikely to reopen in time for the long Waitangi Weekend as another heavy rain watch has been issued for Northland.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency contractors are clearing a number of slips and fallen trees that blocked SH1 over the Brynderwyns, south of Whangārei, during last week’s storm.

This has lead to detours around the route, which add extra travel time to motorists and it had been hoped that SH1 would be able to be reopened in time for the Waitangi Weekend traffic, which sees tens of thousands more visitors to Northland.

However, the agency said the section of SH1 from Brynderwyn Hills to Waipū is very unlikely to reopen for the weekend.

Jacqui Hori-Hoult, regional manager maintenance and operations Waka Kotahi, said the highway is being closely monitored and a decision was made to keep the road closed on Wednesday - despite earlier hopes to open one lane for several hours - as it was not appropriate to be re-opened.

“We know how important the highway is to freight and local communities, however our priority is to first and foremost keep everyone safe. Crews and geotechnical engineers are back onsite this morning, re-assessing the road.

“We will continue to keep people updated as these assessments progress, which will inform when we can open the road safely. With recurring slips, we don’t anticipate this to be in time for the long weekend.”

Detours will remain in place for light vehicles via Mangawhai and Waipū, and for heavy vehicles via SH12 and SH14.

The Waka Kotahi Journey Planner is updated by its traffic operations centres 24/7 to provide the latest available information on state highway closures and disruptions. Remember to refresh the page when checking the status of highways to ensure the latest updates are displayed.

Meanwhile, MetService has issued another Heavy Rain Watch for the region.

It says in Eastern Northland, south of the Bay of Islands, a heavy rain watch is in place for 12 hours from 10pm Thursday to 10am Friday.

The forecast is for periods of rain, and total rainfall accumulations could approach the current lower warning criteria for Northland of 50mm in 12 hours.

The forecast rain is on top of several days worth of heavy rain already dumped 491mm of rain on the region so far this year, including 75.6mm on January 4; 111.1mm on January 10; 80.1mm on January 27; 33.1mm on January 28 and 75.5mm on January 31.