Public safety work at Central Otago’s Nevis Bluff this spring season is due to wrap up tomorrow, a week ahead of schedule.
The work has included blasting with precision explosives to clear rock that poses a hazard to State Highway 6, between Cromwell and Queenstown, along with rock scaling by abseilers and checking of monitoring equipment.
More settled weather in recent weeks has supported the early completion.
The intention is for the contractors involved to be off the SH6 site by midday tomorrow, ahead of increasing traffic volumes for the Queenstown Marathon on Saturday.
Road users should also be aware there may be a short delay on SH6 near Cromwell because of ongoing work on addressing a large slip.
13 October 2025:
Road users should prepare for delays as critical safety work at the Nevis Bluff, on State Highway 6 between Cromwell and Queenstown, gets underway later this month.
Work on the spring/summer programme at the bluff is scheduled to take place over four weeks starting Tuesday 28 October, with the last day expected to be Friday 21 November. Work will be carried out between 8am and 5pm on weekdays, subject to weather conditions.
“People driving on SH6 between Cromwell and Queenstown during these times should build in about 10 minutes of extra travel time as delays will be inevitable while the work is carried out,” says Peter Standring, Maintenance Contract Manager for New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) in Central Otago.
“We know these delays can be frustrating, but we’re asking people to be patient and to understand that this work is necessary to ensure the safety of road users, which is our number one concern.”
There will also be up to five days where closures of up to an hour will be necessary for blasting work on a rock feature that has deteriorated over the winter period. Road users will be given as much advance notice about these blast closure days and times as possible.
The work at Nevis Bluff is part of an ongoing monitoring and management programme by NZTA, which is continuously monitoring movement and changes on the geologically complex bluff. Abseilers working over the rocky schist faces release rock, loosened by ongoing erosion that is hazardous to highway users below, in a controlled way when there is no traffic on the highway.
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