Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Was Hawke's Bay highway closure really necessary ?

By Doug Laing
Hawkes Bay Today·
19 Aug, 2022 05:52 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The crash site as seen by held-up motorists on State Highway 5 on Thursday. Photo / Supplied

The crash site as seen by held-up motorists on State Highway 5 on Thursday. Photo / Supplied

Traffic including fully-laden trucks were delayed up to six hours with the closing of State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupo because of a crash which left a truck and trailer straddling the road on Thursday.

While there were no serious injuries, it was the latest of a series of significant closures of the Hawke's Bay's crucial east-west arterial, including after a fatal crash on July 18, while there were also delays as consultants carried-out an urgent washout scene examination which has led to an immediate repair to avoid a complete closure.

Thursday's crash between Te Haroto and Tarawera was first notified at 1.57pm, and the highway was closed at both the eastern and western ends for just over five-and-a-half hours, from 3pm to 8.35pm.

Westbound vehicles had to queue almost 50km away at Eskdale until the road was reopened.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's Hawke's Bay journeys manager Andre Taylor said the reopening allowed time for the truck, with trailer upright and straddling the high way and tractor unit just off the road, to be towed to a safe location before traffic arrived from the Eskdale and Taupo closure points.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Amid some concerns about the holding-back of traffic such a distance from the location, he said: "It can be difficult to balance convenience of the public with the need to ensure contractors and emergency services staff can quickly and safely reopen the road for everyone. Ensuring the safety of road users, emergency services workers and our contractors is the highest priority."

Emergency services and contractors had a right to be able to undertake their work safely "without the added complications that come from the traveling public trying to get past the accident site," he said.

If staff had sufficient evidence that a motorist lived within the closure area they could allow them through at their discretion, but on Thursday night there were "examples of people who were dishonest about their destination and were let through, then attempting to continue through the crash site," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The closure points were "fully crewed", ensuring no delay in reopening once the road was cleared, he said.

If queues had been allowed to form from the crash site they would have stretched for kilometres in both directions, he said, and would normally impacts on recovery vehicles being able to get to the crash site, past queues of traffic.

"Given the length of the closure, motorists could have been sitting in the queue for more than five hours, as darkness fell, without access to toilets or food and drink," he said.

Highway safety campaigner and truck driver Axel Alexander described the closure as "unnecessary" and "complete bollocks."

He believed two lanes had been open within 30 minutes and salvage contractors would have been able to work around the traffic and would only a short closure for the final movement of getting the truck out.

"I believe wholeheartedly that more electronic signs are needed to inform people where the closure is and allow them to make up their own minds," he said.

"The only sign is at Napier airport and a single word sign at Taupo that informs whether the road is open or closed," he said. "Not sufficient. The road could have remained open for traffic under a stop-go, pure and simple."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Local football returns to McLean Park after 30 year absence

11 Jun 05:05 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Govt funds e-bike charging to boost Hawke's Bay trail tourism

11 Jun 02:00 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Gown on the farm: Teen fashions ball dress from feed sacks and baling twine

11 Jun 01:55 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Local football returns to McLean Park after 30 year absence

Local football returns to McLean Park after 30 year absence

11 Jun 05:05 AM

Football was possibly the first sport played at McLean Park, in 1910.

Govt funds e-bike charging to boost Hawke's Bay trail tourism

Govt funds e-bike charging to boost Hawke's Bay trail tourism

11 Jun 02:00 AM
Gown on the farm: Teen fashions ball dress from feed sacks and baling twine

Gown on the farm: Teen fashions ball dress from feed sacks and baling twine

11 Jun 01:55 AM
Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū Tararua Highway opens to motorists

Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū Tararua Highway opens to motorists

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP