Big trucks, diggers, road signs, soil anchors and lots and lots of big boulders.

Last Wednesday’s visit to Hawke's Bay's Tūtira School by crews from Transport Rebuild East Coast alliance had it all.

TREC engineers, health and safety staff, traffic management crews and environmental teams visited the school on Wednesday, talking about the work they do, before taking senior students for a site visit south of the school, to Devil’s Elbow on State Highway 2 in Hawke's Bay.

“Devil’s Elbow is a complex piece of recovery work for TREC. We have, understandably, seen a lot of interest from the local community about what is happening, and we wanted to lift the lid on the activity at the Devil’s Elbow site,” says TREC Hawke’s Bay Area Manager Andrew Shannon.

“Before the site visit, our Environmental Advisor Mel Tran-Trung ran a fun PH scale test with material sourced from the elbow itself.

“Mel ran through exactly what environmental factors have been taken into consideration during the recovery work at the elbow.

“Our crews also ran through the importance of being safe on site with Personal Protective Equipment, by getting students to wear correct items of clothing and our engineers illustrated the magnitude of the work undertaken since the cyclone and what’s continuing.

Checking shotcrete. Photo supplied.

“Students told us their highlight on site was being able to walk right down into the elbow where they heard more about the work underway and what’s been completed so far, before they went to see the bank where shotcrete has been sprayed around dozens of soil anchors, which are used to support the road, minimising the chance of underslips in the future.

“Showcasing the importance and excitement of careers in engineering, science, and traffic management.

“This kind of event can expand a student’s sense of what’s possible and broaden their horizons for future career options.

“The kid’s even put their new mana wave (an East Coast roadworker’s favoured roadside greeting) to good use, hours after learning them, when trucks went rolling past.”

Devil’s Elbow progress

Work at the site has been progressing well – the culvert has been cleared and strengthened, rock rip rap and retaining walls used to strengthen the banks and a second road lane reinstated.

Plan ahead for a safe, enjoyable journey. Keep up to date with:

• Traffic updates: journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic
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• Journey planner: journeys.nzta.govt.nz
• Phone: 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49)