16 Jan 2017

Choppers clear SH1 hillsides

9:04 am on 16 January 2017

Drivers travelling between Kaikōura and Christchurch will be back on the inland route today.

State Highway 1, from Hundalee to Kaikoura, would close from today until tomorrow while helicopters with monsoon buckets sluiced rock and debris from hillsides along State Highway 1, the Christchurch Transport Operations Centre said.

Traffic bound for Kaikōura will be directed to use the Inland Route (Route 70) to through Culverden and Waiau. It was expected this would add an extra hour to the journey.

Several slips and large boulders fell across the section of highway in the magnitude 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 14 November. It reopened, for use during daytime hours, in mid-December. Last week a fresh slip came down between Peketa and Goose Bay, with motorists temporarily diverted to the inland route.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs