Kaitāia Commerce Street: Kaitāia's main street is in for a spruce-up on Friday, ahead of next month's reopening of State Highway 1. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
An entire Northland town is knuckling down for a spring clean, ahead of the reopening of its main highway, which has been closed for more than two years.
Kaitāia has been cut off from the highway south since August 2022, when a series of massive slips destroyed State Highway 1 through Mangamuka Gorge.
A massive, $100-million-plus project by the NZ Transport Authority to rebuild the 13km section of road is finally due to be completed in December.
Kaitāia Business Association chair Josh Kirby described the reopening, scheduled for 20 December, as "a nice Christmas present".
"Given it's been closed for quite a while - over 2½ years, we felt it was worthwhile doing a little bit of mahi around town, having a little bit of a clean up, putting our best foot forward," he said.
"It's an opportunity for our community to come together and take a bit of pride in our town."
SH1 through Mangamuka Gorge in the far north was cut off, after a storm in August 2022 caused major slips and cracks in the road. Photo: Supplied / Waka Kotahi
Work started on Monday, with businesses in the town centre encouraged to clean windows and building frontages, or to pick up rubbish.
From 10am on Friday, volunteers planned to descend on the town square to collect up rubbish sacks, split into groups and fan out across town looking for litter.
During the week contractors had been re-barking and refreshing the gardens, while through Friday, others would be waterblasting footpaths and alleys, and tidying up benches and rubbish bins.
Kirby said local businesses were hugely supportive.
A local waste firm donated gloves, rubbish sacks and a skip; another business would be sorting through the waste and picking out anything that could be recycled.
Other companies had offered free labour, and equipment such as waterblasters and scissor-lifts.
"So she's all go," Kirby said.
The impact of the highway closure had been significant, he said.
"Every small town needs a road in, right? We haven't had that access for a long time, but at the same time we are a very resilient, supportive community.
"So it has been very difficult, but the community has rallied."
Anyone who hasn't been to Kaitāia since SH1 closed will be surprised to find the derelict Pak'nSave on the main street replaced by a town square. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Kirby said businesses were looking forward to seeing more visitors once Kaitāia was back on the main route north.
"We're hoping that with a little bit of a spruce-up down the main street and surrounding areas, that we're well positioned to welcome our visitors to town, and hopefully they'll spend a few dollars here before they head out to the beach.
"It's been a long time coming."
Some locals questioned how long the highway would last, given that the previous repairs lasted just a year before the road was again wiped out by heavy rain.
However, Kirby said he was optimistic the road would hold, given the amount of work that had gone into it this time.
Visitors who had not been to Kaitāia for a few years would be in for a few pleasant surprises, he added.
One was the new Te Hiku Sports Hub, including an indoor pool complex, on the right just as people arrived in town from the south; the other was the new town square with a large steel and tōtara waka sculpture as a centrepiece, on what used to be a derelict supermarket site.
"That's going to be a beautiful spot to hang out through summer, that's for sure," he said.
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