Sign In / Register
Joan Scandrett, who has lived on Scandrett Road for more than 60 years, had never seen the road in such a bad state as it was late last month.
“It was diabolical!” she says.
“It got to the stage that I would drive on it as little as possible because it was so rough, but all our mailboxes are at the end of the road, as well as our rubbish collection, so it was a bit difficult,” she says.
The 91-year-old was quick to point out that it was only Auckland Transport’s (AT) section of the road that was the problem.
“The road from the park entrance to the beach is always kept in very good condition. It’s a little rough in places at the moment, but that’s just because of the recent rain.”
About 1000 cars a week use Scandrett Road during summer to access the regional park.
Mrs Scandrett believes the lack of proper maintenance on the road is the problem. There is only one culvert, and it appears to be full of metal.
“There’s no water tables so the water just runs over the road washing the metal away and leaving huge furrows. I can’t remember when I last saw a grader on the road, let alone anyone doing proper maintenance. We never had any problems when Rhodes for Roads was looking after the road. People talk about ‘poor maintenance’ of gravel roads. Well, we have ‘no maintenance’.”
Another resident on the road, Bruce Foggo, also lodged a complaint with AT about the state of the road.
In a reply dated February 24, AT said its patching crew would be “attending to” Scandrett Road in late February/early March.
The road was still a mess at the end of last month, but got some attention after enquiries from Mahurangi Matters.
AT senior media specialist Natalie Polley says the storm event late last month caused significant damage across AT’s unsealed road network and will take time to clean up and reinstate for normal routine maintenance.
“We are still in cleaning up mode for all our unsealed roads affected, together with number of slips and dropouts, and three graders have been working in the region to address all the scouring on the unsealed roads,” she says.
“A major overslip at Tauhoa was given priority to clear the mudslide to keep the road open. Other dropouts and slips are still being organised for temporary reinstatement to mitigate safety risks to road users.”
Under the Unsealed Road Improvement Programme for the 2021/22 financial year, the priority roads are Wilson Road in Warkworth, Old Kaipara Road and McLachlan Road. Wilson Road has been completed, and the other two are in progress.
Mahurangi Matters asked AT for an update on its “new approach” to gravel roads, which was announced last year. This involved pavement strengthening; road widening; safety improvements; pothole, corrugation and drainage improvements; and dust mitigation. However, the information could not be supplied because the person involved was away sick.
