‘Huge Bonus’: Complex Kenepuru Rd Sites Could Be Fixed Sooner

Friday, 21 February 2025, 8:18 pm
Article: Maia Hart - Local Democracy Reporter

The target date for fixing all 38 “complex construction” sites on Marlborough’s Kenepuru Rd has been brought forward by two-and-a-half years.

The new target date is December 2027, although more detailed design work is needed to meet that deadline.

It’s welcome news for the road’s postman.

Coleman Post owner Adam Coleman, who was contracted by NZ Post, said that every day the road was getting better.

He was one of more than 50 residents at a drop-in session to learn more about “phase three“ of the road recovery, after severe damage from storms in 2021 and 2022.

At one point, due to road damage, Coleman had to collect his deliveries on a barge at Havelock, and land at Hopewell Lodge at the outer end of Kenepuru Rd.

He would then work his way back down to Portage, before returning to Hopewell to catch the barge out again.

“I had horrendous loads ... it was pretty full on over that period.”

He credited the community for helping get him through it.

Those trips were almost a distant memory for Coleman now, who said he turned up to the drop-in session to hear more about the plan going forward.

After more than two years of restrictions, Kenepuru Rd was repaired to a point that it could be reopened to the public in December.

But now the road was open to everyone, Coleman said drivers had to be very careful.

“I've actually installed two cameras into my two vehicles because I'm sick of people coming straight towards me,” he said.

The team behind the Kenepuru Rd rebuild had identified 802 faults in the network that would need to be fixed during phase three, although 20% of that had already happened.

They explained at the drop-in session that the new target dates for repairs were still just a target while the “scope of works” was being fully defined. The exact dates would then be nailed down.

Design was expected to be completed by then end of this year.

The “packages” for simple and minor repairs would be grouped up and procured into single contracts which was expected to help with efficiency.

Meanwhile, at the Water Tank slip perhaps the most complex site on the road, requiring a new 98-metre retaining wall work was expected to finish soon and the road would be sealed next week.

Kenepuru Rd resident Heike Koester said the roadworks of Kenepuru Rd had been challenging.

There were still occasional daytime closures, and Koester said she was looking forward to having more certainty around when the road would be open.

“We want to have some daytime visitors in March. It’s really a hassle. Because of the road closure, we can’t sort of do that, unless it’s the weekend,” Koester said.

“If we are going into town for shopping it doesn’t matter because we are out all day anyway.”

Kenepuru Rd resident Ross Withell said the repairs had been excellent to date.

But for Dave Wallace, who lived further down the road in Waitaria Bay, repairs could not come soon enough because the community was also without their jetty, which had to close in January over safety concerns.

He said the jetty was a “lifeline” for the community, particularly because of the ongoing road repairs.

He seized the opportunity at the drop-in session to talk about his concerns with Marlborough Roads manager Steve Murrin and Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor.

Taylor attended alongside Marlborough Sounds ward councillors, the council’s chief executive John Boswell and representatives of Fulton Hogan, New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and Marlborough Roads.

Taylor said it was great to see the turnout and that the community was still engaged with the rebuild process.

She said she could feel a difference in the room compared to engagement sessions with the community in the past.

“There’s a sense of relief, they’ve [Kenepuru residents] got the certainty that they need for this project,” Taylor said.

To have the predicted date for repairs to be completed brought forward was a “huge bonus”, she said.

“And it was impressive to stop at the Water Tank site and see the work that’s gone on there. I remember driving that site after the storm event and I wondered how they would ever fix it, or if it could be fixed.

“That was the key site that we needed to fix to get the stock trucks in, and it was a bit of a buzz to actually have to pull over for a piloted stock truck and see that the farmers were using the road again.

“I couldn’t have been happier been pulled over for a stock truck, ever.”

Key dates

Queen Charlotte Dr construction complete: December 2025
French Pass construction complete: June 2026
Picton/Port Underwood construction complete: September 2025
Kenepuru Rd complex construction complete: December 2027

Kenepuru by the numbers

Complex sites: 38
Simple sites: 140
Minor sites: 624

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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