State Highway 1 roadworks will cause delays for drivers in central North Island

The works are expected to be completed by Easter.

Drivers heading through State Highway 1 between Mangaweka and Taihape can expect delays of up to 20 minutes for the next two weeks.

Round-the-clock stop/go traffic management will come into effect from Thursday, February 8, as work continues on a stretch of State Highway 1 at Utiku.

Contractors are building back a section of road by excavating up to 4m and replacing it with aggregate and geogrid stabilisation matting.

The work is expected to take until February 25.

So far contractors have been able to maintain two-lane access; however, at the narrower sections of the road, this will need to be reduced to a single lane to allow for the work.

The one-lane closure point will move as the crew moves and will be controlled by traffic lights.

The closure of one lane has been timed to come after the series of long weekends and it’s expected the road will reopen before Easter.

“Please respect our crews while travelling through the roadworks site,” NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said in a statement.

“Crews are there to make everyone’s journey safer while traffic management is in place. If crews are being threatened and abused, we have to stop work in order to keep them safe which means the job takes longer to complete, with more delays for drivers.”