Levin shop owners Bryan Wilton, Michelle Goldie and Dave Lyons can't hear themselves talking to their customers from the noise from heavy vehicles hitting the potholes.
Levin shop owners Bryan Wilton, Michelle Goldie and Dave Lyons can't hear themselves talking to their customers from the noise from heavy vehicles hitting the potholes.
John Key was Prime Minister of New Zealand and Jacinda Ardern had only just been made leader of the Labour Party when a group of disgruntled Levin shop owners first tried to bring attention to a noisy problem.
A lot has happened since those shop owners on Oxford St first alerted Waka Kotahi (New Zealand Transport Agency) to large potholes on the road directly outside their businesses in 2017.
Fast forward to 2020 and the group of shop owners at the northern end of Oxford St are still waiting for action.
General road noise wasn't an issue. It's a State Highway after all. The problem was the noise created by heavy vehicles hitting those potholes.
An empty truck travelling at 50km shocks to the core when its tyres dropped down the potholes creating an almighty din. Customers and the shopowners themselves were having their nerves tested daily.
Chainey's RetraVision manager Bryan Wilton said the noise of an empty truck driving over a pothole was deafening. He could be mid-conversation with a customer when they would have to start the conversation again.
"You are having a conversation with a customer - we are in the service industry - and you can't even hear each other," he said.
"We've been trying to get them to do something about it for years."
On occasion they had tried shutting the doors, but that was bad for business too. Having the doors open made the shop more inviting.
Next door was Michelle Goldie who had owned By Design since 1986. She said the bone-shattering noise the trucks made had only become an issue since the potholes had appeared.
"The noise of the trucks hitting the potholes is the issue, and also if someone's got an insecure load," she said.
A pothole in Oxford Street in Levin.
Directly across the road was Dave Lyons from Levin Lucky Lotto, who said they had voiced their concerns numerous times since first bringing it to the attention of authorities in 2017.
"Trucks that are empty make the most noise. They hit it travelling at a speed of anywhere between 30km and 50km and you can't hear yourself think. You have to come down and see for yourself," he said.
"The boom makes people in the shop jump."
He said one woman driver towing an empty trailer lost the back gate when it flew off its hinges. He said it was lucky nobody was hurt.
Lyons, acting for the group, said he first contacted Waka Kotahi twice in 2017, and again twice in 2018.
Waka Kotahi regional transport systems manager Ross I'Anson said it undertook regular temporary pothole repairs during winter, followed by permanent repairs in summer when conditions were warm and dry.
Repairing potholes, even temporarily, helped ensure the safety of road users.
"We will be contacting the business owners and will work to mitigate the issues they have raised," he said.
