Lighthouse Road to fully reopen for first time since May

Akaroa’s Lighthouse Road is set to reopen giving unrestricted access for the first time since the State of Emergency that hit Banks Peninsula and parts of Christchurch in May.

The road had restricted access after being affected by land instability following the heavy rainfall that hit the region. The decision to reopen this week is based on an independent draft geotechnical report that evaluates data from borehole drilling completed onsite in July. Some minor repairs, required after the drilling, will be completed before the road opens and a speed restriction will remain in place.

Infrastructure General Manager Brent Smith says the borehole drilling has provided a better understanding of what is going on deep underground with the land.

“We won’t receive the final version of the report until later this month, but the geotechnical experts are confident that the updated debris flow risk outlined in the draft version will not change. We wanted to update affected residents and the wider community as soon as possible with this new data which means the primary and secondary areas are no longer considered at risk from debris.

“The revised understanding is that a release of any debris is unlikely to occur as any future weather event would need to be significantly larger than the May 2025 event. And even if debris was released following land movement, it is no longer considered a risk that it would reach properties in the primary and secondary areas.

“This is because of what we now know about the land. If any debris were to release, the volume would be at the lower end of what was previously modelled and isn’t expected to flow easily due to the makeup of the land, which has a high clay content.

 This information means the primary and secondary zones downslope of the land instability that were put in place following the State of Emergency are no longer required. The land instability area remains, with two properties (land only) affected.

 Monitoring equipment installed on Lighthouse Road will remain in place to give regular information about the land and any movement. Lighthouse Road is expected to remain open unless the monitoring data indicates a change in risk. To date there has been no significant movement since the severe weather event between 30 April – 2 May 2025.

 Mr Smith says the Council would review access to the road if the risk profile regarding it changed at any point.

 “We are also still looking at what potential remediation measures may be helpful to protect Lighthouse Road from future weather events and help minimise risk to the land immediately below the road at the instability site. These will be outlined in a Council report that is scheduled to go to the next Finance and Performance Committee Meeting on 27 August 2025 for elected members to consider and provide direction on.”