Contractors are making good progress on a $1.3 million rehabilitation of Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road, with the first section of work to be complete by Easter.

Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road is one of the Ashburton District’s busiest rural roads and also part of the Inland Scenic Route.

Council has a two-year plan to reconstruct almost 6km of the road, to make it wider and stronger.
Infrastructure Services Group Manager Neil McCann said two sections of Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road, south of Mayfield, were to be rehabilitated.

“Work on this first 2.5km section started in January and should be finished by Easter. It will cost around $600,000, which is nearly a third of our annual reconstruction budget.

“The second section of the road will be rehabilitated in the 2022-23 financial year and when that is complete, we will have rebuilt about 8km of road since 2019.”

The road rehabilitation involves digging out the failed pavements and potholes and replacing them with a strong base material.

“Then we build a new road on top of the existing road with gravel to at least 150mm thick. The original road was constructed with only 70mm of gravel years ago,” Mr McCann said.

Over 15,000 cubic metres of gravel will be used in the reconstruction of Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road over this year and next, with about $1.3m to be spent.

“This is one of our busiest rural roads, but sections have deteriorated over the years. It should be another 15 or 20 years before major repairs are needed again.”

HEB Construction is undertaking the road rehabilitation for Council.