One of the slips on Cable Bay Road. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Contractors have begun work to fix three major slips and restore full access along Cable Bay Road, after the August 2022 floods in Nelson.
Mayor Nick Smith said slips during the severe weather event damaged the road, forcing it down to a single lane in places, and were challenging to repair with significant drop-offs and unstable ground.
The work was expected to cost $1 million and was essential to restore two-way access and improve resilience for future storm events, Smith said.
The road will be closed between 9am and 3pm during weekdays for the next four months, opening between midday and 1pm daily.
It is not the first time Cable Bay residents have faced disruption from road repairs, with extensive work required after a 2011 storm caused damage to 28 different sites along the road. Smith said all of those repairs survived the August 2022 event.
Council group infrastructure manager Alec Louverdis said the project was one of the more complicated council has had to solve since last August.
Cable Bay Road will be closed during certain hours between 12 February to 14 June, 2024, or remediation and repairs on three slips. Photo: Supplied / Nelson City Council
Two days of heavy rain washed sediment down the hillside and caked the road in mud. Extensive surveys found one slip was 22 metres in length.
"The repairs will require contractors to dig benches into the hillside for their teams to work on," Louverdis said.
"For the first slip, they'll use concrete beams and blocks to stabilise the land. For the other two sites, they'll drive timber poles in from the road to act as a retaining wall. They will then drill ground anchors into the rock," he said.
"The road will be rebuilt and laid once the hillside is stable."
Council worked with the contractor and local residents/businesses to find opening times for Cable Bay Road which balanced everyone's needs.
Cable Bay Cafe owner Annette Meyer said they were affected by the road closure, and it was good to have been involved in discussions about the repair work with the council.
"We appreciate that they were willing to move the date to be outside the school holiday break to minimise impact on our business," Meyer said.
"Visitors, particularly campervans, have commented on the traffic lights and narrow sections caused by the slips. This road is not just a way for residents to get from A to B, but it's our livelihood."
