The roading contractors' teams are smashing out some of the priority upgrades. While there are major repairs still to do, they impressed us with their temporary repair for light vehicles to a pretty munted bridge, before and 3 days after photos below.
Today involved a community reassurance visit with the controller and support to a community who have been active on social media around their anxiety. They are impacted by some road closures, and while they do have access, remain anxious about safety, rather than road integrity. We have received reports that the school bus company is not running on one of the roads even though this is open and not compromised. The key messages to the community will be that we are going as fast as we can and need to actually prioritise other communities who have more pressing access needs. Safety is relative, and it really comes down to the decision of the bus company and individuals if they prefer not to use roads that are functionally safe.
Meanwhile, back at base, we had an update that a rural community of around 30 people no longer had access. They were cut off until the farmer provided 4WD access through a farm track. This has now become unsafe and unavailable, meaning the community is again isolated from road access. The bridge (below) is at least 5 days from having a temporary 4WD bypass established. So it is a case of monitoring both their needs and progress on the bypass.
Overall, today was about community connections and some positive roading wins, albeit temporary and with weight or speed restrictions. Hopefully, Saturday afternoon's rain which is forecast (below) won't set us back...
Early days....Old piggery below the Waipawa breakout
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