Government Advances $7M SH6 Epitaph Landslide Resilience Project in South Island

The Government is progressing a strong pipeline of roading resilience projects in the South Island to ensure local communities, freight, and tourism operators can continue to get where they need to go, South Island and Associate Transport Minister James Meager says.

The State Highway 6 (SH6) Epitaph Landslide Resilience Improvements project, a crucial project to help safeguard the road’s resilience, has had its investment case endorsed by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board, as well as $7 million in funding approved to progress detailed design and consenting, Mr Meager says.

As a strategic freight and tourism corridor, SH6 connects the South Island’s West Coast with Otago and Southland. It supports travel between key destinations like Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Wanaka, Queenstown, and Milford Sound. It is also a route exposed to natural hazards like landslides/slips, rockfall, and flooding.

The recommended approach to strengthen SH6 Epitaph Slip (near Knights Point) is to realign the road inland away from the cliff edge, remove unstable material above the road and bench cut the rockface to improve stability. To construct the benches and remove the unstable materials, a haul road will also be built to enable access.

Initial steps are now underway, including progressing geotechnical investigations, design, and consenting. This will ensure the project is ready for consideration of construction funding by the NZTA Board in the 2027-30 National Land Transport Programme period. The estimated construction cost is a range of $102-123 million.

I’ve seen with my own eyes how vitally important this project is for the South Island, having visited the Epitaph Slip site earlier this year with local MP, Maureen Pugh. I thank Maureen for her long-term advocacy to find a way forward for this critical project, alongside Westland Mayor Helen Lash.

This programme to improve resilience includes six key corridors as well as the Epitaph Slip. Alongside the $13.4 million being used for design and consenting work, the Government has already committed $12 million for construction. Another $90 million is expected to be sought once design work is complete.

Our state highways are vital lifelines for communities in the South Island, and we’ll continue to prioritise a strong pipeline of improvement projects that deliver better resilience and reliability of these corridors over time.

This is a great example of Government listening to what our regions need to improve local connectivity, regional growth, and support jobs. I look forward to further progress being made by NZTA on these projects, alongside the wider Crown Resilience Programme, in the months and years ahead.

Notes to Editor: •    Following a landslide below SH6 Epitaph Slip in 2012, and a major rockfall from heavy rain in 2024, an investment case was brought forward to find a long-term solution to address the vulnerability of the highway at this location.

•    The approach for the Epitaph Landslide Resilience Improvements project was developed through a comprehensive process that considered construction options, environmental impacts, impact on local communities and users of the route, geotechnical and resilience risks, as well as economic impacts.

•    Read more about the Epitaph Landslide Resilience Improvements project at About the projects | NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

•    The SH6 Epitaph Slip is one part of six high priority roading corridors that have been identified in the South Island because of the likely impact a natural disaster would have on them. They include: o    SH60 Tākaka Hill – Investment case complete, detailed design underway. (pre-imp funding approved $1.9M) o    SH6 Hope Saddle to SH65 Higgins Bluff – Investment case complete, detailed design almost complete. Construction is underway on multiple sites.(pre-imp funding approved $1.6M) (construction funding approved $12M) o    SH6 Haast to Hawea – Investment case complete, detailed design underway. (pre-imp funding approved $2.4M) o    SH6 Epitaph slip – Investment case complete, detailed design about to commence.$7 million approved for detailed design and consenting.

o    SH6 Cromwell to Frankton – Investment case complete, detailed design underway. (pre-imp funding approved $3.9M which includes installation of monitoring equipment for a corridor management plan and a management strategy for The Narrows) o    SH6 Frankton to Kingston – Investment case complete, detailed design underway and expected to be completed early 2026. (pre-imp funding approved $1.6M) o    SH94 Milford Road Sound to Te Anau Downs – Investment case complete, detailed design underway. (pre-imp funding approved $2M) •    NZTA is working to improve each of the high priority corridors in the South Island and increase their resilience over time. You can read more here: https://nzta.govt.nz/projects/south-island-resilience