TREC owner interface manager and principal project manager at NZTA Richard Bayley, inset, and a major drop-out at Devil's Elbow after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / composite image

After 2.4 million hours worked by 4100 workers, the final repair job to fix Cyclone Gabrielle damage on Hawke’s Bay’s highways is complete.

Last week, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) announced completion of repairs on State Highway 38 caused by Gabrielle.

It marked the end of Transport Rebuild EastCoast (TREC) Alliance’s state highway recovery programme in Hawke’s Bay.

The TREC Alliance which brought NZTA, KiwiRail and powerhouse contractors Downer, Fulton Hogan and Higgins together, was set up in the wake of the disaster to plan, organise and deliver recovery and rebuild work across the state highway and rail network in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

Together, TREC completed work on State Highways 2, 5, 35, 38, 50 and 51.

They repaired or rebuilt 125 faults along the network, including more than 70 underslips, 20 buttresses, more than 35 retaining walls and more than 40 culverts. About 80% of the work was delivered by local contractors.

NZTA principal project manager Richard Bayley said the alliance completed more than 2.4 million hours on the project in Hawke’s Bay and about 4100 workers had been inducted on the job.

“It’s a bit surreal really because it’s a huge shift that’s been put in by the teams.”

TREC moved north to complete repairs in Tairāwhiti.

Bayley is focused on finishing the job by December.

He said the project went up East Cape, about three hours’ drive from his home in Gisborne, probably one of the most remote parts of the State Highway network.

“When you work in this recovery space and these alliances where you’re constantly dealing with unknowns, so every day is a challenge and a school day, so you just learn to roll with it.

“Hopefully it’s a long time before we have to consider doing something similar again.”

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.