A thousands hours of personal effort was all worth it, one of the instigators of a community project to rebuild a central Moeraki street says.
''[I'm] bloody rapt,'' Bill Pile said yesterday as the final seal went down in Haven St, marking the end of a mammoth local effort to have the street reopened.
''The road now [is] the best it's been in my life and I've been here in Moeraki for 75 years. It's the end of a big challenge.''
The street was closed by the Waitaki District Council in August 2013 after a 350m to 400m portion collapsed. A detour was put in place and the council was going to keep what was the main route from State Highway 1 into Moeraki closed, because of the ongoing cost of trying to keep it open.
But pressure from the community to reopen it grew, culminating in an offer from the community last December to raise money and do the work itself.
In February, the project started and the road was officially reopened in July.
The tiny North Otago community helped to finance the project and contributed thousands of hours of voluntary labour, using donated machinery and material, to the rebuilding of the 1.5km stretch of Haven St, the main entrance into Moeraki, over the five months.
''If it wasn't for the local people, it wouldn't have been done. The council would've walked away from it,'' Mr Pile said.
Some cracks and dips had been noticed on Moeraki's new main road after its official opening, but those problems had been addressed. Settling was expected after such a large amount of material was compacted on the road in the rebuild, he said.
No-one knew what the project was worth, but estimates were it was more than $1 million.
Mr Pile himself had dedicated more than 1000 voluntary hours to the project and was thrilled to see the final seal go down.
'' . . . now up to the council to maintain it.''
He expected the new road to increase housing prices and boost the image of Moeraki.
