More than 500 truckloads of earth have been removed from the largest recovery site at Devil’s Elbow, as work onsite progresses.

This recovery site, known as Devil’s Corner, on State Highway 2 north of Napier, is the final project underway in the 5km Devil’s Elbow area, following extensive damage caused to the road during Cyclone Gabrielle.

A 40 metre long and 10 metre high slip closed the southbound lane and work is underway to repair this large and challenging underslip.

Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC) alliance crews, on behalf of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), are working with local contractors to restore access through the site.

It’s one of the last single lane stretches remaining between Napier and Wairoa.

Crews have completed the 120m long temporary works which will support the state highway and hillside before permanent works are undertaken. This work involved drilling 633 nails through over 4km of drilling and excavating 500 truckloads of material.

TREC project manager Richard Bayley says this is the largest, and last recovery project in the Devil’s Elbow section.

“This is a complex site where access to the bottom of the gorge has proved extremely challenging due to the constraints of the site. The team has done a great job with stabilising and supporting the road and hillside ready for the next stage of works.”

The next stage, the permanent works, started last week. Construction will involve piling and soil anchoring in readiness for a new 12 metre high retaining wall.

There will be 32 nine metre long piles to support the wall and 57 fifteen metre long soil anchors to strengthen it. More than 5,500m3 of aggregate will be used to construct the retaining wall.

“This site has been down to one lane since the underslip damaged the highway but the majority of the construction is off the road, which helps to keep traffic moving through. Once this site is complete later this year, the whole 5km section of Devil’s Elbow will be restored back to two lanes”, says Mr Bayley.

This timelapse video shows this first stage of works which started in November 2024 and finished last week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGoe11Yc1hw

Work continues at three other sites in the upper section at Devil’s Elbow – Projects H, J and R (see map below) and short-term work (approximately 4 weeks) will be undertaken at night at Project O from April.

14 March 2025

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