Motorists could face half an hour delays while travelling towards Murchison on State Highway 6 from next week.
Work is set to begin to stablise a rockface on SH6 which was damaged by a slip Photo: SUPPLIED/ Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency
Starting Monday, work will be done to stabilise a rockface damaged by a slip between the Owen River Bridge and Kawatiri Bridge in an area known as the Granity Narrows or Granity Rapids.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency system manager Andrew James said the agency wants to return the highway to two lanes before Christmas.
The work will take place from Monday to Saturday between 7am and 6pm, starting on 22 November and running through until 22 December.
Outside those hours, the site will be managed with temporary traffic signals with the single lane and a 30km/hour speed limit.
The aim is to get the site back to two lanes for the summer break with further rockface safety work to take place in the new year, James said.
Contractors using helicopters will be drilling, scaling and removing rocks then installing netting over the rockfall area.
While the scaling works are taking place, the site will be managed by stop go traffic management with most delays between 10 and 15 minutes. There will also be slightly longer closures up to 30 minutes.