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Despite budget cuts, more metal roads will be sealed over the next three years than ever before, a Rodney Local Board workshop heard last week.
Auckland Transport’s (AT) Unsealed Road Improvement Programme (URIP) for the next three years has been cut from $37.5 million to $30.3 million since November, due to anticipated funding from NZTA Waka Kotahi not being awarded.
Roading corridor asset manager Peter Scott said despite this, AT could upgrade 84km of unsealed roads, instead of 64km originally planned, due to more cost effective treatments.
“Most of those will be maintenance sealed – that’s the most we’ve ever done,” he said. “
“That will make quite a difference to our network.”
After being questioned on problems with maintenance seal put down last year, Scott did concede that there had been some problems.
“We had a few sites that had quality assurance issues and we’re working that through with our contractor, Downers. Some were due to ground conditions, some were due to construction quality,” he said.
“Maintenance seal is a sealed road that we expect a 15-year life out of and we will maintain as a sealed road for ever.”
Members also voiced concerns over unsealed roads deteriorating due to being used as detour routes when crashes closed state highways or other main routes.
Scott said after the meeting that the URIP was part of AT’s Local Road Improvements bid for the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP), but it was not prioritised by NZTA.
“The NLTP only approved a small percentage of what was required,” he said. “AT has now submitted the URIP into the Resilience Targeted Fund through NZTA. A funding decision is expected to be advised in the coming months.”
Info: https://at.govt.nz/about-us/street-maintenance/improving-the-unsealed-road-network
