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Tim Lynch was appalled to discover new seal “disintegrating” a month after it was laid.
Auckland Transport (AT) has acknowledged that road sealing work on Sandspit Road is unsatisfactory and more work is necessary to fix the problem.
Snells Beach resident Tim Lynch drew Mahurangi Matters’ attention to long gouges and potholes in the newly laid seal.
“It disintegrated about a month after it was laid. You don’t walk away from a job like this. This is not a job well done,” he said.
Mr Lynch said there had been some attempts to repair the damage, but the gouges and potholes in the road remain. About three kilometre of Sandspit Road, west of Hamilton Road, is affected.
AT spokesperson Mark Hannan said resurfacing work was necessary after water cutting was undertaken to remove excess bitumen. A two-coat chip seal was applied in March, but failed to adhere to the road.
“Remedial work was carried out after Level 4 on May 15, however the chip loss continued,” he said.
Mr Hannan said the “overlapping of the seal” was unsatisfactory and made worse by vehicles speeding through the site after the new seal was laid. He said further remedial work was hampered by restrictions imposed by Covid and cold, wet weather. Further remedial work was planned for later this month or early October.
Mr Hannan said speeding vehicles were a problem on all newly chip-sealed sites. In this instance, a traffic management crew did monitor the site for a longer period than usual. Nevertheless, Mr Hannan said AT was considering bolstering traffic management efforts following road sealing.
“We are looking at getting the police involved to monitor speeds. Having a police presence on Pine Valley Road in Dairy Flat was successful when it was sealed in February,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rodney Local Board member for Warkworth Steven Garner raised the issue of poor road maintenance during an AT briefing at last month’s Local Board meeting.
Mr Garner told AT relationship manager Ben Halliwell that there was a lot of ill will locally over the condition of roads and their maintenance, sealed and unsealed.
“Can you please take back feedback and again express our concerns and dismay that maintenance, upgrading and seal extension is not being done to a decent standard,” he said.
He said there was an ongoing problem with roads falling apart, and AT was aware of many of them.
Mr Halliwell said AT delivered maintenance and renewals based on funding set by Council’s governing body.
“We deliver what we can,” he said. “The proportion of funding allocated to maintenance, upgrades and seal extension is insufficient,” Mr Halliwell said.
