Earthquake Ravaged Sumner Road Reopens in New Zealand

Sumner Road in New Zealand reopens after repair of earthquake damage

Sumner Road in Christchurch, New Zealand is a critical infrastructure link between Christchurch, the Port of Lyttleton, and the communities of Sumner and Lyttelton.  It was severely damaged in the 2010-2011 earthquakes that struck the region.  After eight years of work to remediate slopes, retaining walls and the road itself, Sumner Road is finally reopened as of March 29 of this year. Global engineering and consulting firm Golder provided support to the Christchurch City Council throughout the project, including preliminary design of a 2 km stretch of the road, and providing owner’s engineering advisory services throughout the 2.5 year construction phase.

The work involved significant rockfall mitigation work, including scaling and blasting as well as the construction of catch-benches and other active mitigation measures.  Once the rockfall mitigation was completed, the focus shifted to repairing or reconstructing the 30 retaining walls that were damaged during the earthquakes, and finally the repairs to the road itself.

For more about the project, check out the video above, or visit Golder’s website.

[Editor] Randy Post is the owner and President of GeoPrac.net, and he is also a Golder employee. The views and opinions expressed on this website are his own, and not those of Golder. [/Editor]