Tokoroa to Kinleith open tomorrow

State Highway 1 (SH1) will reopen between Tokoroa and Kinleith at approximately 10am tomorrow, Wednesday 27 November 2024.

“The final sweeping needs to be finished tonight and tomorrow morning, and then the road will be reopened, with a temporary speed limit while the new chip seal is bedded in,” says Roger Brady, Regional Manager of Maintenance and Operations for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).

“The reduced speed will be in place for 4-5 days. Please adhere to the signposted limits – they’re there to keep everyone safe.”

Following its rebuild - the southern part of this section of SH1 was reopened last week, and the temporary speed limits that were in place south of Kinleith will be removed in the morning after the new line markings have been completed. (See photo).

Meanwhile, night-works to complete the final sealing of the Tīrau to Putāruru section (which were scheduled to start on 24 November) have been postponed for further road testing.

“To ensure a new road is ready for its final seal, we run a series of tests measuring the rutting, roughness and texture of the pavement layers.  Initial tests did not provide sufficient data, so further testing is needed before we can determine when it’s ready for its final seal,” Mr Brady says.

“We appreciate that postponing this work may be frustrating to local residents, businesses and road users and we’re sorry we can’t provide more certainty around the timing of the final seal works at the moment. We’d like to thank everyone for their understanding as we ensure we’re delivering the highest quality road we can.

“In the meantime, the road is perfectly safe to use, and motorists will already be seeing the benefits of this rebuild section of SH1,” Mr Brady says.

Further north - the first weekend of the closure of SH1 between Putāruru and Tokoroa was upset by vandals.

“Many detour signs were pushed over and detour guides were turned around – resulting in a potentially dangerous situation for road users and workers. In addition, the confusion caused some road users to have longer journeys than they should have.

“There has already been a lot of poor driving happening on the detours, and we have been in discussions with the local police who will be increasing their presence on these road. Additional fixed signage is being put up on detours warning of the increased traffic.

“NZTA wants everyone to get where they’re going safely, so please take care and drive to the conditions and the road environment,” Mr Brady says.

More information on this project, and updates on our next steps, can be found at nzta.govt.nz/t2w