Slip fence started

Work has begun on the first of three 6m-tall steel-mesh fences for the Diana Falls slip face, to protect traffic using the section of SH6 below.

New Zealand Transport Agency senior network manager Mark Pinner said yesterday drilling had been completed for the anchor posts for the first of the fences and work was under way installing the mesh.

The route has been reduced to single-lane traffic and closed every night from 5pm to 9am since a massive slip at the site in September last year.

The top fence now being installed will help prevent material sliding off the mountain and enable work to be done more quickly on the two lower fences.

Mr Pinner said the fences would be some of the biggest of their type installed in New Zealand. The work remains on schedule for completion in September, if the weather remains favourable.