Motorists travelling between Alexandra and Roxburgh should factor in delays as work to install a new culvert at Gorge Creek begins on Sunday.

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) will close the main highway each night from November 24 to December 6 to conduct the work.

People who travel on that section of State Highway 8 (SH8) would need to build in extra time and be ready for short delays, journey manager for NZTA in Otago Nicole Felts said.

The highway would be open to clear the traffic at the top of each hour, and by doing the work at night, would minimise traffic disruptions.

Maintenance contract manager for Central Otago Peter Standring said the pipe running under the road – the culvert – collapsed a wee while ago due to its age, and due to the broken concrete material filling up the pipe, the water capacity was reduced.

“Given we were about to renew the highway surface, it made sense to replace the pipe with a solid one at the same time."

NZTA would be also resealing SH8 near the creek in early December, from Monday, December 9 for up to ten weeks to early March - that work would be carried out during the day.

“We are taking the opportunity to replace the culvert before completing the road rehabilitation. The current one-metre diameter culvert is an older concrete pipe that was on our list to be renewed so we are using this opportunity to combine both into one package of works,” Nicole said.

A lot of work had been done on culverts in the area since 2021, following the devastating 2017 floods which blocked the highway.

NZTA, in conjunction with the Otago Regional Council, replaced a culvert at Golf Course Creek eight times bigger than the original one to improve road flooding resilience.

The Pumphouse Creek culvert was replaced in 2021 and at Black Jacks in 2023.

NZTA has also been working with the regional council to complete a catchment study of the area. 

A detailed hazard assessment on 13 of the 22 river catchments was in progress to understand future flooding scenarios.

Regional council staff presented councillors with its Roxburgh Natural Hazards report last week, which outlined details of the study that would be completed by the end of 2025.

Diggers work to clear a culvert in Roxburgh after the 2017 floods. PHOTO: THE CENTRAL APP

The 2017 flooding event caused significant impact to property and infrastructure, and the regional council needed to plan for the impacts of future ones, as a result of climate change.

The upcoming evening culvert work would stop on December 20 and restart January 14.

Around 1.3km of highway would be reconstructed north of Gorge Creek. The seal would remain intact in the lead-in to Christmas with full reconstruction underway from mid-January. 

There would be delays of up to ten minutes around this work with the highway operating as a single lane with traffic lights controlling movements.

“We know this work runs through the Christmas holidays so thanks to all drivers coming into Central Otago on SH8 being ready for short daytime delays and, if travelling at night in the lead-in to Christmas, aiming for the top of the hour to get through at Gorge Creek,” Nicole said.

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