25 Jan 2021

Share this story

Contracting crews working to install new safety guardrails along Dyers Pass Road will start working at night from the end of this month.

This means that from 31 January the top section of Dyers Pass Road, from above the Sign of the Takahe to the Sign of the Kiwi,  will be closed to traffic between 7pm and 6am. Traffic coming from Governors Bay will need to turn off Dyers Pass Road at Summit Road.

What we’re doing and why

  • Three kilometres of guardrail are being installed along Dyers Pass to improve safety.
  • The guardrails are being installed at high-risk locations to help reduce the severity of crashes.
  • Once the project is complete there will be guardrails along almost 70 per cent of the route, making it safer for all users.
  • The safety improvements are budgeted to cost about $7.2 million.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is meeting three-quarters of the cost as it has included the project in its Safer Networks Programme.

People who normally travel on Dyers Pass Road between those times will need to travel via Lyttelton Tunnel or Gebbies Pass instead.

The night closures will continue until the work is completed.

“We are trying to get the work on Dyers Pass Road done as quickly as possible and the night closures will allow the contractor to make better progress,’’ says Council Head of Transport Richard Osborne.

“It is a tricky project because there is minimal space available on Dyers Pass Road and it is difficult for the contractor to have work sites operating without traffic disruption. The work they are doing requires them to dig out the edge of the road, which is why sections of Dyers Pass Road have had to be reduced to one lane until the dig-outs are resealed.

“We understanding that it is frustrating to see sections of the road closed off and we are constantly working with the contractor and the traffic operations centre to reduce the size of the work sites and the time they’re closed off.''