Nelson's Rocks Rd partly reopens to bring some traffic relief

Wednesday, 24 August 2022

SH6 Rocks Rd partially reopening from 8.30am Wednesday

State Highway 6 along Rocks Road opened to northbound traffic on Tuesday, easing some pressure on Nelson's clogged roading network.

It will be one lane only, for northbound traffic travelling from Tāhunanui to Nelson CBD
It will be open from 8am to 7pm
The road remains closed to cyclists and pedestrians

Nelson motorists got a slight reprieve on Wednesday morning, with Rocks Rd partially reopened.

Rocks Rd (SH6) has been closed since the rain event brought flooding and slips to the region.

But, with only one lane of the road open residents are being warned to continue to expect heavy congestion around the city.

The section of State Highway 6 has been closed since last week, when an atmospheric river of rain brought flooding and slips to Te Tauihu (the top of the south), damaging roads across the region.

* Top of the south highways remain crippled following floods, slips

* Drivers urged to think twice before travelling as Nelson traffic chaos continues

Both SH6 and SH63 to from Nelson to Blenheim remained closed until at least next week after being extensively damaged.

Traffic was backed all the way up Rutherford St to the Halifax St intersection at 4.25pm on Monday. The closure of slip-hit Rocks Rd and major roadworks at the bottom of Rutherford St have created traffic chaos in the city.

The closure of Rocks Rd has caused significant traffic congestion in Nelson, as the highway traffic had detoured via Waimea Rd, which is also subject to roadworks. Some commuters reported travel times of more than 90 minutes from Nelson to Richmond.

On Wednesday morning Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency acting national manager maintenance and operations Mark Owen said the road would be open under strict conditions.

It would be open from 8am to 7pm for northbound traffic from Tahunanui to the CBD with a 30kmh speed limit.

The decision has been made with Civil Defence and the Nelson City Council on geotechnical advice.

For safety reasons, the route would still be closed to cyclists and pedestrians, he said.

Owen said geotechnical experts would continue inspections of the route to see the impact the traffic was having on the road and nearby properties. “If problems are detected, the road may close again at short notice, including during wet weather,” he said.

The decision to make the road one-way, rather than using stop/go traffic control was made in conjunction with Nelson Tasman Civil Defence and Nelson City Council “to ensure the use of State Highway 6, Rocks Road, is safe while houses in the area are evacuated, and slips are still stabilising”, he said.

They were “exploring options” to see if the direction of traffic could shift to southbound in the afternoon to accommodate commuter traffic.

“Our experience is that reversing traffic on the same lane (known as a tidal flow) and making sure people are aware of the changes and timing is very challenging.”

Restricting the speed limit would minimise the impact of vehicle vibrations on the hillside and houses, he said.

“At this stage, we do not have a timeframe for when Rocks Road will be open in both directions.”

The decision to continue shutting the road to pedestrians and cyclists was based on safety, he said.

“The advice is that if we need to urgently close the road, cyclists and people walking will take longer to move than people in vehicles.”

Because the road would only be operating in one direction congestion would continue to be a problem, and Waka Kotahi urged people to continue limiting travel to avoid congestion on the roads.

Those who needed to travel should plan ahead and allow extra time.

Roadworks would be ongoing across the region for some time and people needed to be patient and drive to the conditions as the damage from the rain event was repaired.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the partly reopened Rocks Rd was not available to heavy vehicles