A slip near Makarora, east of the pass, closed the highway just as the school holidays began. The road is now only passable by escorted convoys three times a day, and will reopen to stop-go management on Monday.
However, Ben Monk from the South Westland Salmon Farm at Paringa, said Google Maps — used by most tourists — had been showing the highway as "closed".
When it reopened temporarily at the weekend with traffic lights — to coincide with the Haast Whitebait Festival — the salmon farm had an "epic weekend".
Now it was back to convoys, however, and the business was struggling with trade down 90%.
With staff still on the payroll, Mr Monk was unsure how much longer they could sustain it.
Google Maps was exacerbating the loss by showing the road as being closed. The app was trying to send motorists from Wanaka via Arthur’s Pass — a trip of more than 10 hours, he said.
"The road is closed during the day, that’s the headline. Google Maps says closed."
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency journey manager Nicole Felts said crews had made good progress removing slip material from Muddy Creek, leading to an end for the weekday traffic convoy system.
The road through Makarora and past the Blue Pools reopened at 4.30pm yesterday using traffic lights, she said.
From 8am on Monday, there will be stop-go traffic management through to Friday during the day so drivers did not need to meet scheduled convoy times from Monday morning.
Google has been approached for comment.
