New data shows Northland roads are getting worse despite Waka Kotahi’s insistence that safety improvements and maintenance of high risk areas are being prioritised.

AA Northland District Council chairwoman Tracey Rissetto said recent state highway
quality data for 2021 to 2022, released in June, shows skid resistance for Northland roads continues not to meet minimum standards on a large proportion of the network.

“There has actually been an increase in the amount of the network that is below the skid-resistance threshold,” Rissetto said.

“This will partly be because of the low expenditure during the previous six years on road rehabilitation – that is work maintaining the underlying foundations of roads.

“If the foundations are unstable this causes surfaces to break up, reducing the grip a vehicle’s wheels get with the road.

“The AA has consistently called for more expenditure on road maintenance, including safety improvements.

“Even the best drivers can crash if there are potholes or a road’s skid resistance isn’t up to scratch.”

Waka Kotahi figures show the percentage of the Northland state high network that has failed minimum skid resistance standards went from 4.66 per cent last year to 7.74 per cent this year.

That’s nearly double the current national average of 3.98 per cent.

In September 2021, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency announced $750 million for Northland roads over the next three years as part of the National Land Transport Programme.

This included $355.4m for road maintenance for local roads and state highways.

Of the $238m allocated for local roads, Whangārei, Far North and Kaipara district councils spent a total of $67.9m.

Of the $117.4m allocated for state highway maintenance, $43m has been spent by Waka Kotahi.

This included 179 lane kilometres of asphalt and chip seal renewals, 10,695 potholes repaired, and 7407 edge marker posts replaced or repaired, Waka Kotahi spokeswoman Jacqui Hori-Hoult said.

Work was carried out “at priority sites” and included road sealing to address the loss of chip seal at sections of SH16, SH12 Ruawai to Paparoa, SH1 Moerewa to Pakaraka and SH1 Towai Hill.

However, The Northern Advocate spotted numerous large patches of missing chip seal during a short drive along SH1 and 10 this week, including a number of large potholes, which some drivers were seen swerving to avoid.

Though the stretch of road through Pakaraka is now smooth, Turntable Hill in Moerewa is covered in bald patches and potholes, and there is no evidence any work has been done on the stretch of state highway that runs through the small town.

Moerewa community stalwart Mike Butler also questioned which area had been worked on.

“My question is where, show me which stretch of the road have you fellas done? It’s crap.

“They’ve spent the last three years trying to get this patch of road up to scratch doing 900m per section. It’s horrible.”

Kerikeri resident Marjorie Anderson, who drives to Whangārei regularly, said the surface of SH1 in Moerewa “is simply appalling”.

“How is it that this is considered acceptable,” she said.

“Our roads up north once you depart Whangārei, are narrow, uneven, and simply dangerous.

“If SH1 is recognised as a strategic route, how has it been allowed over many years, to deteriorate to such a level that it clearly is no longer safe and certainly not what first world countries would consider acceptable.”

Hori-Hoult said during the last construction season, September 2021 to May 2022, Waka Kotahi and contractors “successfully delivered one of the largest road maintenance programmes Northland has ever had.”

Road rehabilitation works were completed at seven sites, she said, “which involved completely replacing or restoring the structural integrity of the road by rebuilding and resurfacing”.

Subsidence levelling was carried out at the Brynderwyn Intersection, SH1 Snake Hill, SH1 Towai, and SH1 Lookout Hill.

“Across the network, our investment is focused on ensuring we keep state highways safe,” Hori-Hoult said.

“This is done by prioritising safety improvements and maintaining high-risk areas.

“Having a finite budget means we also continuously prioritise and make trade-offs to manage more kilometres of state highway, as well increasing volumes of vehicles on the road.”

Far North deputy mayor Ann Court has long been saying Government funding fails to keep pace with soaring road maintenance costs.

Last month Court wrote to Transport Minister Michael Wood calling for an “urgent review” of the sustainability of the funding model.

“Waka Kotahi and the Crown are increasingly coming under adverse scrutiny in the media as New Zealanders express their abject frustrations with the rapidly declining state of the transport network,” she said.

“The current funding model does not fully recognise the costs of maintenance of roads and related infrastructure.”

Court said it was “tone deaf” to discover Waka Kotahi spent $337,000 on the opening ceremony of Transmission Gully which was attended by 300 people in March.

“That cost equates to $1123 per person, while rural and provincial councils have had to face significant funding cuts”.

Kaipara Mayor Jason Smith said Northland roads were “falling apart”.

“The Government investment in roads in Northland is reducing.

“The regional transport committee has clearly complained to the minister about this, and those complaints have been ignored.

“The Northland Mayoral Forum has raised those concerns as well and they have been ignored.

“We are facing increasing uphill challenges to get investment to fix our failing roading networks across all of Northland.

“Our roads are now worse than they’ve been for decades. This is the roadless north and it’s not good enough.”

Smith who is seeking National party candidacy for Northland at next year’s general election said he would make roads “a top priority” if he becomes Northland MP.

“A top priority for me is for Northland roads to be just as good as everyone else’s.

“The roads are number one priority for Northland people for health and safety, for our economy, they are absolutely critical as lifelines all across the regions.”