Kaitaia residents may be taking the long way round for months after torrential rain badly damaged the main route into town; State Highway One through the Mangamuka Gorge.
State Highway One through Mangamuka Gorge has been closed after the road badly damaged by torrential rain. Photo: RNZ
Waka Kotahi says the road is still highly unstable and there has been multiple slips with safe access an issue.
That means local residents are being forced to take a lengthy detour via Kerikeri on state highway ten.
Kaitaia Business Association Andrea Panther told Checkpoint the detour was adding an extra 25-30 minutes to locals' trips.
"People living in Kaitaia or out to the west or up north it would add on another 25-to-30 minutes but what happens is when State Highway One is closed for us it doubles the traffic on State Highway Ten so it adds even longer because there's more congestion on the roads," Panther said.
The detour meant all of traffic in the area was confined along with plenty of trucks to State Highway Ten in an area that lacked passing lanes, she said.
This was leading "impatient" drivers to make risky maneouvres to get ahead of trucks on the busy road, she said.
Many businesses had been forced to face the cost of the road closure as freight delays hit their pocket, Panther said.
"It means more kilometres and more time, all of that adds up to money so lots of businesses struggled with extra freight or delays in freight... the last time we had to have it closed for a year so yeah those do impact lots of businesses."
Meanwhile, people were being put off travelling by the longer route which meant less people were spending their money in Kaitaia, Panther said.
State Highway One through Mangamuka Gorge has been closed after it was badly damaged by torrential rain. Photo: RNZ
The closed highway was also a key route for ambulances in the region, leaving locals facing longer wait times for emergency services.
"Our ambulances transport patients in between Whangarei and Kaitaia so that's their main route to go that way so they've got to go the longer way as well so that adds on time to their journey."
The road closure had been hard for locals who relied on the ability to travel from town to town, she said.
People living south of Kaitaia faced the longest delays caused by the closure of SH1 in Mangamuka Gorge, they had to make an approximately ten minute drive into Kaitaia before they could gain access to SH10, Panther said.
Waka Kotahi had not yet provided a timeframe on when the slip will be cleared, she said.
"I understand that Waka Kotahi haven't given a timeframe yet but I've seen photos and it looks like we've had an earthquake through there, the road has dropped and there's dangerous slips.
"All the work they did last time that's all fine so none of their work was wasted last time but the rest of the hill has moved in a lot of places and you just can't travel safely through there."
If the road was still unusable by summer the region it would be "incredibly detrimental" to the region both economically and socially, she said.