Work will start this week to restore three roads in the Waitomo District.

The upgrades and repairs to sections of Oparure, Speedies and Waitahi Roads are in response to previous storm damage where the roads suffered overslips, underslips and washouts.

General Manager Infrastructure Service, Shyamal Ram says works will remedy the damages and improve resilience against further damage in future weather events.

“Roading projects are big investments and sometimes it takes a while to assess the level of damage and determine the best way forward that meets our level of service standards and funding availability,” he says.

“Our roading network has suffered extensively over the years due to storm damage. It has taken some time to repair but we are getting there, and we thank our community for their understanding and patience.”

Nicholls and Uttinger Civil was awarded the contract following a tender process. Work includes constructing a retaining wall on Oparure Road, a block wall on Waitahi Road, and repairing the pavement (road surface) and upgrading drainage on all three roads.

During this time there will be some disruption to traffic flows due to the constrained site locations with temporary traffic management in place to allow for the sites to be constructed safely.

Works will start on Oparure Road this week and is expected to take around seven weeks to complete.

The second site at Speedies Road will start in March and Waitahi Road in mid-April. The overall completion for all sites is early May 2026, weather dependent.