Drivers travelling on State Highway 8 between Alexandra and Roxburgh need to take extra care at Shingle Creek where Aspiring Highways (on behalf of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency) is working on a historic slip site.

The slip site, which runs under the highway, started to show signs of significant movement through cracks appearing in the road surface in July after heavy rain and snow melt.

The slip is obvious up the hill above the highway.

Since then speed has been reduced to 30 kmh with temporary traffic signals restricting traffic to a single lane at this part of the route.

“The slower speed and single lane traffic is to enable emergency work to progress to ensure we avoid a major disruption in the future on this section of highway,” Waka Kotahi Central Otago maintenance contract manager Peter Standring said.

“The slip passes directly underneath the highway and has had small-scale remediation repairs over many years, but a more permanent solution is now being investigated.” 

This section of highway has had funding confirmed under the recently announced Transport Resilience Fund, as part of the Low Cost Low Risk category (generally for projects costing up to $2M).

Cracks in the road showed evidence of ground movement below.

Waka Kotahi will keep road users and the community informed of the next steps in this longer-term repair.

In the meantime, Peter thanked drivers for slowing around the site while it is managed to minimise further damage. 

“We know it is inconvenient short-term, but we are hopeful that a long-lasting engineering design solution is now in the wings,” he said.

While the design for the longer-lasting repair is underway, work is progressing on stabilising the area including drainage and the construction of a single lane to ensure all efforts are made to maintain access for SH8. Aspiring Highways will continue to monitor the site and respond to changing conditions, as weather and other factors could have an effect on ground conditions.

“We ask road users to drive to the conditions and adhere to all traffic management at this site at all times,” Peter said.