Overnight work to "improve the resilience" of State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Ōpōtiki has been delayed with a scheduled start day of Wednesday, June 21.

"The asphalting programme was scheduled to begin on Monday, however scheduled wet weather for early next week has delayed that to Wednesday," says a Waka Kotahi spokesperson.

"To minimise disruption and keep Tairāwhiti moving during the day, work will be done at night. Work will take place seven nights a week between 7pm and 5am when the weather is fine.

"During the project, more than 11 kilometres of SH2 will be resurfaced with more than 20,000 tonnes of asphalt.

"The work will start at the northern-most site, between the Waioeka Gorge and Matawai township, with full closures in place. This section is expected to take two to three weeks to complete, weather dependent.

"We strongly recommend people use our Journey Planner website to check the status of the road if they plan to travel between Gisborne and Ōpōtiki at night.

"Waka Kotahi appreciates everyone's patience as we work to finish this programme as quickly as we can to future-proof access, safety and reliability on this key route for Tairāwhiti."

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

• Traffic updates: journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic
• Facebook: facebook.com/WakaKotahiHBG
• Twitter: twitter.com/WakaKotahiCNI
• Journey planner: journeys.nzta.govt.nz
• Phone: 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49)