Montagu Pass: Update on roadworks with Jeff Ayliffe

[00:00:00]I'm currently standing on the entrance road heading towards Montagu Pass. I've been invited by the contractors Montla Construction and Zatori Engineered to go with them into the pass and just to get a quick update as to how things are progressing in terms of work being done.

[00:00:16]We've been getting a lot of questions about, so let's go and have a look.

[00:00:22]>> What is quite remarkable was seeing how well the the pass performed after these storms we've had. And that is literally just because of unblocking drains. So just goes to show how critical whole issue is around drainage.

[00:00:36]The whole principle is to get the water when it rains, when there's a storm, to get the water off the pass as quickly as possible into the drains and away. So what was happening when we were before with all the blocked drains, uh there was overflowing onto the road itself and the road literally became a river. So that's how you had all that heavy scarring occurring. In fact, so heavy that the contractors have already uh used more material than they thought just to fill and compact the scars properly.

[00:01:06]>> So that's been the majority of the work I would imagine back filling of the scarring has been >> that that that and clearing the drains, obviously.

[00:01:14]Um and they're busy with the some of the big culverts at the moment. It's working quite well, so >> And just the last one, are we are we quietly optimistic that we're looking early 2027 end of this year?

[00:01:24]>> Well, so far the the the program is until January uh next year. We might have some delays now just because of the additional amount of material. It's not just putting the material in, it's sourcing it as well.

[00:01:39]Um because um some places some of the places where they thought they'd be able to source material, particularly rock, for example, they haven't been able to get. And because we are now lining the entire length of the pass with a a side drain.

[00:01:53]>> Yeah.

[00:01:53]>> That's going to require additional material which there wasn't before.

[00:01:56]Because of adjusting the levels to improve the efficiency of the draining, it mean drainage it means that some of the some of the stone walls on the side, the parapet walls, are going to be have to be raised because the the road itself is having to be raised to to give a proper camber to the drains.

[00:02:14]>> So, stones that are recovered, existing stones from the original wall that are recovered are packed along the pass and they are then used for the construction of the new drains.

[00:02:32]We're in the area of a huge washaway that happened in the first of the big storms this year.

[00:02:39]This entire section of road here basically starting from here is There's what was once the road all down in the valley and they have started to support it with uh with bags.

[00:02:58]Just to give you an idea of how much work has already been done, you can see the the widening of the roads has already happening.

[00:03:05]Um all the the scarring has been filled has been backfilled.

[00:03:10]The really bad stuff started from the bottom of the pass where we are now as we start to climb up to go under the bridge and then up towards the grave.

[00:03:19]The um the entire road is now looking like this. So, there's a tremendous amount of work that has been done and it's really the work at the moment, the majority of the work is now the culverts and uh getting the the drainage systems completed. And as I said, you can see all the rocks, the original rocks that have come off the wall, they've been kept and as much of the original material is going to be used in in the drains.

[00:03:44]So, everything has been kept as natural as possible.

[00:03:51]And for me, possibly the the best thing is is uh uh Although we don't see the vehicles in here, I have heard how much work has been done in the pass um by the construction teams. But to actually be in the pass now, it's completely closed off to the public still for obvious reasons. There's a huge amount of vehicles here. But to see the amount of work that's been done and to see how the entire pass has now been the backfill's been done. Um it's testament to to how much work has been done. And we're looking forward to the predicted uh opening date. It's still we are online for December or January um end of uh 2026 into January of 2027.

[00:04:32]That's the goal at the moment. Um which means we'll have both the Montagu Pass opera- operational again and hopefully Seven Passes as well.

[00:04:40]So that's uh that's great news. That's where I'm going to leave it for now.

[00:04:42]For Group Editors live on the Montagu Pass, looking great. I'm Jeff Ayliffe. Cheers for now.