Numerous trees have been cleared along SH1, with roadblocks remaining in place as more debris is cleared. Video / Mike ScottNew Zealand roads at risk of more slips without new strategy, expert warnsSlips are likely to wreak havoc across New Zealand’s road network unless the response to disasters changes, a travel network expert claims. Motorists were forced to sleep in their cars after trees blocked State Highway 1, while Kāwhia was isolated because of multiple slips as a result of wet weather. Dr Douglas Wilson, director of the Transportation Research Centre at the University of Auckland, said the age and design of New Zealand’s roads can make them susceptible to slips. “The road networks in New Zealand obviously have largely been built sort of 50 to 100 years ago and a lot of them were not actually designed to current standards or even to standards at that point because they followed the secondary road network,” Wilson said.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 17, 2026 05:36 UTC