One reason friends moved from Herne Bay to suburban Grey Lynn was to get away from the traffic noise on Jervois Rd.
For them, 1600 cars driving past their new Peel St address each day was bliss compared with what they had to put up with living on the four-lane Jervois hoonway to Westieland.
But no sooner had they grown accustomed to the new quietness than contractors arrived to reseal their street with the dreaded chipseal. Down went the metal chips and up went the noise levels - by three decibels, say council experts.
Over a noisy pavement lunch the next Sunday, the Peel Streeters were seeking sympathy. As founder-president of the anti-noise league, I oozed concern, but all our other friends could do was smirk.
They had moved from Herne Bay to cliff-top Ronaki Rd, Mission Bay, and their street had also been resealed. But instead of the common chipseal most of Auckland City suburbia is being inflicted with, millionaire's row had been resurfaced with smooth-as-a-baby's-bottom asphaltic concrete.
Peel St demanded that I find out why this injustice had occurred.
And even the Ronakis were perturbed that their rates had gone on replacing a road surface, which to them had been okay to begin with.
I'm afraid I have to report that there is no simple answer.
There are chipseal guidelines. But they, it seems, can be overridden by a mix of ad-hockery, discretionary decision-making and finally, by what the contractor happens to have in his truck at the time.
Asphaltic concrete (or hot mix) is smooth, quieter, and much preferred by Aucklanders. It is also two to four times as expensive as chip.
Without a big boost in the roading budget, the city would not be able to maintain the eight-year, 100km a year, cycle of road renewal if it reverted to the smoother option.
More than 60 per cent of Auckland City roads are chipsealed. These are mainly residential streets because council policy is to save the asphaltic concrete for high-volume traffic streets.
The key figure is 8000 vehicle movements a day. The guidelines say that roads carrying more "are normally resealed with asphaltic concrete." The rest get chips.
But there are exceptions. It is recommended that existing surface types be retained "if it has performed satisfactorily previously."
And, to qualify for an asphaltic concrete overlay, the road "needs to be in a good condition and uncracked." Either that or additional "stabilisation or reconstruction is required."
These guidelines are so broad that you could drive a gravel truck through them.
Returning to my lunch companions, Ronaki Rd has the same number of traffic movements as Peel St. Yet it gets the de luxe seal and Peel does not.
Council officials tell me it is because Ronaki's existing surface was good and was asphaltic concrete. When you tell them the old "good" surface had to be removed by a great milling machine first, no doubt at some expense, you are told that the surface had to be lowered because it was too high.
But before you start to think that the fancy seal is being kept for the rich eastern suburbs, I suggest a trip to the dead end commercial cul-de-sac of Gudgeon St, off College Hill, in Ponsonby. Inexplicably, it qualified for the good stuff too.
The biggest gap in the guidelines is the lack of appreciation council gives to the impact that the noise of traffic on chipseal has on residents.
Peel St is typical of much of residential inner Auckland, with old wooden villas and other dwellings just a few metres from the road.
I wonder how happy the traffic engineers would be if they were living there, and someone suddenly amplified the sound of all the cars passing by in busy times.
Chipseal is cheap. It is also nasty, especially in residential areas. Officials say it wears down and quietens with age. Surely there is a better way to pave our streets.
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