Christchurch's Sumner Rd preview days from reopening after significant quake repair

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

The smooth black seal of one of Christchurch's most iconic roads is days away from public traffic, with the rebuild work coming in about a quarter under budget.

The public will be able to ride their bikes and drive their cars on Sumner Rd from 6pm on Friday after a two-and-a-half-year rebuild costing about $45 million. It was originally due to open early 2018.

The iconic 2.6 kilometre route, which gives scenic coastal views as it winds from Sumner to Lyttelton, has been closed since 2011 due to damage from rockfall caused by the Christchurch earthquakes.

The work has involved scaling the bluffs above the road to remove any loose rock, building a 407-metre long, 15m wide catch bench for rock to fall on, repairing about 29 retaining walls, and re-paving about 2.5km of road.

Drivers and cyclists will be able to use the freshly rebuilt Sumner Rd from 6pm on Friday.

The lanes are 3m wide wherever possible, but had to be dropped to 2.7m in places due to the challenging terrain.

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About 100,000 cubic metres of rock were blasted and removed during the rebuild.

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An aerial shot of the damage on Sumner Rd in January 2017.

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Christchurch City Council transport planning and delivery manager Lynette Ellis said the rebuild was challenging because contractors had to do the rockfall mitigation work before anyone could get in to find out how damaged the road was, so the design was done in sections as the road was cleared – and it took a long time to get that mitigation done.

About 16,700 square metres of road has been resealed during the rebuild.

She said the build was 'well under' the $60m project budget. The final tally-up was yet to be done but was expected to be about $45m.

Ellis said the road was a crucial link for freight going to Lyttelton Port, because it was the route for dangerous goods as they were not allowed to go through the Lyttelton Tunnel while it was open to the public.

Port CEO Peter Davie said the road reopening would mean trucks carrying oversized loads would be able to travel into Christchurch and north of the city quickly and easily, rather than relying on the much longer route over Gebbies Pass.

It would also serve as a back-up route for general freight if the tunnel was closed.

'The alternative route through Gebbies Pass is considerably longer and less than ideal for heavy trucking,' Davie said.

There is no parking available along the road apart from at two pull-out spots, and a temporary speed limit of 30kmh has been put in place along the length of the road.

The rebuild, carried out by contractor McConnell Dowell, is being paid for by the council and the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), with the latter contributing 83 per cent of the funds needed.

Though extensive work has been done to make the road safe from falling rock, it was always a possibility for any road below a hill. The risk is comparable to that on other similar New Zealand roads.

The rebuild is one of four projects making up the council's Sumner-Lyttelton Corridor Programme, the others being at Wakefield Ave, Moa Bone Point and Shag Rock Reserve.