My Account
Road art.
It may look like a new form of road art, but the residents of Quintal Road, Matakana, are not amused. The road has been almost impassable since before Christmas and repeated calls to Auckland Council have been ignored. The NZ Herald delivery service has already ceased, as the driver says he won’t negotiate the road in its current state, and residents fear NZ Post will be next. Resident Sally Greenwood is worried how she will get her haymaking crews and cattle trucks in. Residents believe the state of the road is a reflection of poor maintenance of both the road and the culverts. “Essentially it’s a drainage problem,” Greenwood says. When AT was asked for comment on Quintal Road, a spokesperson said “the team hasn’t heard anything about Quintal Road”. Pictured, from left, Morris Hodges, Peter Carter, Sally Greenwood and Sydney Carter.
I’ve raised two complaints with AT but their system doesn’t seem to be giving tracking numbers anymore and I haven’t had an email response either.
Komokoriki Road resident
There is growing anger over the deteriorating state of unsealed roads in the region and the lack of response from Auckland Transport.
It is expected to be one of the main issues raised with Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown when he visits the district this week.
Kaipara ki Mahurangi MP Chris Penk and Auckland Councillor Greg Sayers say they have been fielding regular emails and calls from residents fed-up with driving over unsafe roads and sustaining damage to their vehicles.
Penk says he was appalled at what he saw on a recent visit to several locations.“Deep potholes, ruts and gouges requiring drivers to swerve to the other side of the road to avoid damaging their vehicles, sometimes on blind corners and very narrow roads; slips that have made roads dangerously narrow; bare clay, including on hilly roads used by school buses and logging trucks; and little or no evidence of adequate water maintenance – no water tables and non-existent or blocked culverts,” he says.
“One road was so badly damaged with deep slumps and cracks that it was closed for costly repairs.”
In a letter to the Minister of Transport, Penk said a common theme was that complaints and requests for adequate and effective maintenance of rural roads were falling on deaf ears.
“When they [residents] reach out to Auckland Transport, they are either ‘fobbed off’ or ignored. Where maintenance is carried out, it is usually ineffective, short term and inadequate with no thought to fixing the underlying issues, such as water management.
“My constituents are asking, where is the money from their rates being spent? Why is no one being held accountable for the state of their roads?
“They are tired of hearing the same responses and receiving Band-Aid solutions. They want meaningful action and investment into their roads so that they can travel to and from their homes on roads that are safe, adequately maintained, and fit for purpose.”
However, Auckland Transport (AT) says the current state of the roads is a result of several extreme weather events, as well as record levels of rainfall over the last six months or so.
“This is what has caused much damage to the network,” a spokesperson says. “More funding for preventative maintenance would help, but we can only utilise the funding provided to us.
“Considerable effort is going into catching up with our maintenance grading and repairing the damage caused and discussions are underway with Waka Kotahi regarding additional funding.”
Penk says the priority going forward should be the effective and timely management of the maintenance and repair of the roads, culverts, potholes and ruts, instead of pouring money into the cracks like so much “hot mix” that lasts just days or weeks.
“We need to invest properly,” he says.
“We also need to move past the culture of excuse-making that points to the fact that it rains lots in Auckland, that more funding would be helpful, there are still issues related to covid19 and the prioritisation of other projects.
“The big debate in relation to central and local government shouldn’t be in the nitty gritty of funding percentages. We must be honest about what we expect council agencies to do: Get the basics right and leave the fluffy stuff well alone.”
AT excuses cloak road repair failure
Makarau resident Nicky Berger says the damage that closed Komokoriki Road was not caused by the rain this month. Or by the rain in November. Or by the rain over winter.
“It was the result of a systemic failure of Auckland Transport to ensure that our roads are maintained to more than a bloody goat track,” Berger said in a fiery letter to councillors and others. “Despite numerous warnings from residents over several years that the road was in danger of slipping away without proper water table and culvert maintenance, no meaningful repair or maintenance occurred.”
This month, a large subsidence occurred, which closed the road. Berger believes that if water table maintenance and culvert maintenance had been done, the road would have remained intact.
“The quality of maintenance on our road has steadily deteriorated over the last six or seven years, with seemingly no accountability. Residents complain, we get a ‘Band-Aid’ of gravel dumped – sometimes so badly residents have had to spread it themselves so that smaller cars can drive over it – occasionally a roller or grader, and then meaningless platitudes when we advise that the repair is substandard.”
Berger says AT closed one of her case numbers earlier this year saying a culvert had been fixed, when it was still completely blocked. She says someone needs to be held accountable for the lack of response to residents’ requests for road repairs.
