The Hangaroa Bluffs, on Tiniroto Road, suffered significant damage during Cyclone Gabrielle. 1400m of road was undermined with river protection works destroyed. The 2-lane road was scoured away to less than one lane in parts. It required repairs to the retaining wall structures and rock protection works. Following emergency works the road was reopened to single lane. However, following a further weather event, a geotechnical report identified imminent and extreme risk of rockfall and risk to life of falling material. This prompted Council to close the bluffs. It has been closed since August 2023.
The Tiniroto, Ruakaka, Te Reinga and Ruakituri communities have needed to use either the Parikanapa Road, or travel State Highway 2 via Wairoa to get to Gisborne, adding significant travel time and expense to their commute.
Location of the Hangaroa Bluffs on Tiniroto Road
A long-term resilient solution
Tiniroto Road is considered an alternative route to State Highway 2 and a resilient roading solution is needed. The Government included funding for a resilient solution in the Cyclone Support Package that Council accepted in November 2023.
Options being investigated include rebuilding the existing route or a new bypass of Bluffs 1 and 2 that crosses the Hangaroa River.
Detailed assessments of these options will inform the decision. Once technical feasibility investigations are completed partner and community engagement will be sought prior to recommending the proposed solution to funders. The overall aim is to find the best outcome for the community and wider region.
This is a major project expected to be completed within a 3 to 5 year period.
An interim solution
Given the length of time needed to both investigate and complete works, Council commissioned a further report to understand what was required to safely open the bluffs as a temporary measure to ease the community impact of the road closure. This report identified a feasible option to safely open Tiniroto road.
Work to re-open Tiniroto Road at the Hangaroa Bluffs was carried out over 5 weeks and included rock scaling at bluff 3 to remove overhanging and loose rocks, to reduce the risk of rockfall, as well as installing concrete blocks, earth bunding and catch drains along bluffs 1 and 2 to protect road users from low-volume rockfall. The road reopened on Monday 17 June 2024.
The communities of Tiniroto, Ruakaka, Te Reinga and Ruakituri will no longer have to use Parikanapa Road as a detour or travel via Wairoa to get to Gisborne.
The road will be under watch, especially during heavy rainfall which could trigger a road closure at short notice until such time the road could be assessed for safety. If this happens, the community will need to use the alternative detours during these closures.
We still have government funding of $45 million as part of their Cyclone Recovery package that’s going towards a long-term resilient plan. This is in progress however we want to be honest and that’s still 3 – 4 years away.
During the rock scaling work last month bluff 3 was also mapped for this future safety planning.