A stretch of State Highway 4 between Upokongaro and Raetihi will be closing later this month to repair and reinstate a section of state highway to 2 lanes. 

Crews will be repairing an underslip near Otoko which is currently reduced to one lane. This section was further damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle and has been under stop/go traffic management.

During the closure a raft of maintenance work will also be completed. 

The road will be closed from 6.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday. The work will begin on Monday 26 May and will be completed and the road reopened on Friday 4 July.

Outside of these hours, the road will be open and a 30km/h temporary speed limit will be in place through the worksite for safety. The road will be open during the day on Saturday and Sunday. Please expect some stop/go temporary traffic management at times. 

During work hours, the section of SH4 between Whanganui River Road, Whanganui and Alexandra Road, Raetihi will be under a daytime road closure, with managed access for the local community and emergency services only.*

All other road users will be detoured onto SH49 and SH1 during these daytime closure hours. 

Please note, this daytime detour is expected to add up to an hour to journey times. Plan your journey ahead of time or delay travel where possible. 

A daytime closure is required due to the one lane of state highway at Otoko and the space requirements of the heavy machinery in use. Crews are installing a retaining wall and will then rebuild the road level back up on the northbound lane to reinstate the state highway it to two lanes. During the works, heavy machinery will be on the existing southbound lane, with no space available for road users to access the hard closure area during the hard closure times listed below.

We aim to complete this work ahead of potential significant winter weather arriving. We know this detour will add time to journeys and we appreciate people’s understanding while this work is carried out to repair and improve the resilience of this section of SH4.

*Access during the closure:

• Between 6.30am and 9am, access will be available through the closure points for schools, residents, business owners and emergency services only.  
• Between 9am and 2.30pm, access will be available for emergency services only. 
• Between 2.30pm and 6pm, access will be available through the closure points for schools, residents, business owners and emergency services only.  

Road users are advised to talk to onsite crews ahead of driving through the site.