State Highway 4 work site between Whanganui and Raetihi officially completed after nearly two years’ work

State Highway 4's Auraki Stream retreat project has been officially completed.

The final and largest repair site on State Highway 4 following major flooding in June 2015 has been completed.

The site of the Auraki Stream retreat project was the largest of more than 40 sites identified as needing repair on the highway after a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours.

About 50 people representing New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, Ngāti Rangi and design and construction partners for the project gathered on site to mark the project’s completion.

The celebration was marked with the unveiling of a plaque set into a stone near Auraki Stream.

Waka Kotahi senior project manager Malcolm Chiles said the plaque was appropriate as the project was built around unity between its partners.

“We are truly grateful to have worked so closely with the community,” Chiles said.

Pou Ārahi for Nga Waihua o Paerangi, Helen Leahy, said the project had been about respect.

“To have the relationship with a crown agency, because this road contributes to national activity, tourism and economic outcomes, but it’s also important for whānau, for health, for life – for people to travel to be with their loved ones. It’s much more than a road. It’s building a pathway as partners,” she said.

The current condition of State Highway 4 at the Auraki Stream retreat project site.

One of the earthmoving contractors on the project was Mills Albert.

Director David Mills said the co-design element of the project had been a key part of its success.

“It’s been the highlight of my career, being part of something that’s making a better place for our children.”

Work on the retreat project started at the beginning of 2022 and involved extensive geoengineering and earthmoving efforts.

Earlier in the year, students from local area schools were invited to the project site to help with planting efforts along the stream.

Hundreds of trees, shrubs and grasses were planted as part of the retreat project and in November the project team, including iwi, reinstated two streams on the site to their original paths.