The Whakatipu Transport Programme Alliance will return to Queenstown’s Gorge Rd this month to adjust a wastewater pipe laid just over 18 months ago.
A section of Gorge Rd, from Stanley St to Weaver St, will be closed from May 12 to June 6.
It will be the fourth time the same section of road has been shut by the Alliance in two and a-half years.
In an advance advisory, an Alliance spokeswoman said they were returning to work on the "below-ground construction" of a section of the road, involving "adjustment work to a wastewater pipe" and the rebuild of the footpath, kerb and channel.
In a statement yesterday, Queenstown Lakes District Council property and infrastructure general manager Tony Avery said a "quality assurance inspection" of the wastewater line had identified a "dip in the pipe" installed in August, 2023.
"We believe it’s related to issues that were encountered with a large concrete obstruction when the pipe was laid, and this has affected the alignment of the pipe.
"The pipe needs to be re-laid to prevent ongoing maintenance issues."
The west-bound lane of Gorge Rd will be closed, with a two-way detour via Robins Rd while the work, between 4 Gorge Rd and Weaver St, is done.
"The work will cause inconvenience to local businesses and residents, but the Alliance are confident they will be able to complete the work within the 26-day timeframe and the wastewater network will operate as planned," Mr Avery said.
The reopening date may shift depending on "construction progress, weather conditions, and any other unforeseen factors that may occur.
The road was initially closed in October, 2022 for a new layout to be created, only reopening again midway through the following year.
Then in October, 2023, it was shut again for more than two months for the "rebuild of the road, kerb and channel and some landscaping".
Last spring, the Alliance closed it again to install a traffic island, traffic signals, street furniture and planting.
The work was part of the controversial arterial road — officially opened on January 30 — which took more than three years to build and cost $128 million.
