Skippers road - urgent repairs

The historic Skippers Road has been closed for urgent repairs, Queenstown Lakes District Council roading manager Ian Marshall said.

“In 2007, a section of road, approximately 1km from the Coronet Peak turn-off was the subject of a slip and at that time repair work was necessary. The same section of road has again been undermined,” Mr Marshall said.

At present the road had been undermined to the extent that a space of 250mm was all that lay between the outside edge of the wheel and the edge of the road.

“It’s now a safety issue and there is no option but to undertake the repairs,” Mr Marshall said.
The difficult nature of the single lane, unsealed road meant that the first job to be undertaken was grading the first 800m section to enable construction gear access.

“Unfortunately it does mean disruption to some commercial operators and the small number of permanent residents living in the Skippers area. We have been working with them to ensure their needs are able to be met,” Mr Marshall said.

The road would be closed to all traffic this week but access for residents would be reinstated at week’s end.
“Our aim is to then allow residents access in the morning and at night. Clearly it’s an inconvenience outside our control and I think there is general recognition from all interested parties that the road needs to be worked on,” Mr Marshall said.

It was hoped that the entire job could be completed within six weeks.

“It’s not an easy job and given the historic nature of the road a certain level of care and sensitivity also needs to be applied,” Mr Marshall said.

The Historic Places Trust had been consulted on the repair and an archaeologist would be on-site during the course of the project, which included the reinstatement of original stack stone walls, rock-bolting and the creation of a gabion retaining wall.