Further night closures at Devil’s Elbow to restore two lanes

SH2 south will be closed at Devil's Elbow for five nights next month as TREC crews working for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi continue their major improvement works there.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has plans to close State Highway 2 south at Devil’s Elbow overnight next month as recovery work continues.

The stretch of highway will be closed overnight in the first week of November.

“The highway between Tūtira and Aropaoanui Rd north of Napier will be closed from 9pm to 5am each night between Sunday, November 3, to Thursday, November 7,” Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC) project spokesman Chris Mahoney said.

“The road will be open as normal from 5am on Friday, November 8.”

During daytime hours, the road will be under traffic management through the Devil’s Elbow section.

“TREC crews will spend the five nights at Devil’s Corner realigning the single lane to move traffic away from the worksite.

“This is preparation for the recovery project starting later this year,” Mahoney said.

Devil’s Corner, which has been labelled Project I, will be the largest and last of the recovery projects in the SH2 Devil’s Elbow section.

NZTA and Transport Rebuild East Coast have a series of extensive road works along the stretch of SH2 south at Devil's Elbow as they work to put the road back together after Cyclone Gabrielle.

“Cyclone Gabrielle caused a significant underslip that damaged the southbound lane of SH2 at the corner.

“The site has been down to one lane since Cyclone Gabrielle and the type of preparation work taking place cannot be done under short closures,” he said.

“We’ll be using the whole width of the single-lane road to do the preparation works including widening the single lane, putting down new pavements, drainage, new barriers, and clearing the slopes above the road.

“This will create more space for the crews and machinery to safely access the worksite as the project progresses.”

Mahoney said NZTA understood the overnight closures would be frustrating.

“However, it enables us to prepare for work at Project I and ultimately restore two-lane access in the area. Thank you to road users for their continued support.”

Project I was expected to take 12-18 months and would be completed in stages, he said.

“It will require intermittent closures in the future to complete the project.

“Next month’s work is weather dependent. The contingency period is Sunday, November 10, to Thursday, November 14, 9pm-5am each night.”