Damage is evident on State Highway 6 after severe flooding. Photo: Supplied/NZTA
Residents between Nelson and Rai Valley who faced being cut off for seven weeks by emergency flood repairs on State Highway 6 will now have escorted access to their homes.
The state highway will be shut between Hira, near Nelson and Ronga Road in the Rai Valley from 6am on 1 November until 18 December.
Waka Kotahi Top of the South regional manager Mark Owen said arrangements have been made for residents and those with business commitments and animal welfare requirements in the closure area.
Over the past few weeks, Waka Kotahi representatives have been meeting with affected residents in the closure zone to discuss their situation and available access options.
Those who live and work on Kokorua Road, which is located between two of the biggest slip sites - on the Whangamoa Saddle and the Rai Saddle, were faced with being stuck without access to either Nelson or Blenheim while the road was closed.
Owen said they will now have access to and from Kokorua Road via a forestry track at the top of the Whangamoa range to the Hira end of the closure.
Access will be via escorted convoys at scheduled times for safety reasons.
Owen said the trips will take approximately 40 minutes on a narrow, steep gravel forestry road.
It aims to run 12 convoys a day - three each way in the morning and three each way in the afternoon/evening.
He said access was made possible due to an agreement with Tasman Pine Forest Limited and Ngāti Koata.
"We hope this should help those families caught up in the closure zone while the repairs to State Highway 6 are carried out."
Owen said Waka Kotahi accepted that it was a huge burden for residents to have their road access affected in this way but there were no easy options given how fragile SH6 was.
The seven-week closure of a section of the highway will enable essential repairs and resilience work to be done on the road between Nelson and Blenheim.
"If there were to be another significant flood, the route could be shut down entirely for months. This would have a huge impact on local communities and businesses and is something we want to avoid at all costs."
During the road closure, people can travel between Blenheim and Nelson by using State Highway 63 through to Kawatiri Junction, then onto State Highway 6.
Photo: Supplied / NZTA