Record complaints over the state of our roads, the Government’s multi-million dollar bill on an empty building and terrifying plane crash in Nepal in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A record number of complaints about vehicle damage caused by potholes were received last year as Kiwis travelling for the summer indicate that the roads are in the worst state they have ever been.
In the first 10 months of 2022, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency received 555 complaints - this is up by more than 100 compared to the 421 complaints made in 2021.
Following this revelation, national road freight industry group Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand has called on the Government to act with urgency to fund road maintenance.
“The busy summer holiday period has highlighted just what an appalling state much of our roading network is in,” Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett said.
“It’s not just about road maintenance. We also need the Government to recommit to new roading capacity to ease the strain on our existing network.”
Leggett said the Government was too focused on pinning the blame on others, including previous governments, road users, and the weather, rather than stumping up and making the necessary investment in the network.
“We acknowledge that there are a number of factors beyond the current Government’s control impacting our road network, but the blame game isn’t going to fix the potholes or stop people’s vehicles being damaged.”
National Party transport spokesman Simeon Brown said he has received an increase of people expressing their concerns to him about potholes as Kiwis take to the roads over summer.
“I have been hearing from many Kiwis travelling on our roads over summer, with people telling me that our roads are in the worst state they have ever seen,” he said,
Brown said Labour’s focus should be on fixing the roads rather than light rail in Auckland and reducing speed limits on state highways.
AA spokesman Dylan Thomsen said the quality of New Zealand roads has been an issue for some time but it is only now that we are starting to see the consequences of deferred maintenance and a lack of investment from successive Governments.
“A bunch of highways around the country have just suddenly had their surfaces start to crumble and break up, but that has been because of the long-term lack of investment leading up to now,” Thomsen said.
“We are hearing more and more from people all over the country is them saying they’ve never seen the roads this bad in their life before.”
Thomsen said a survey in February last year indicated that 66 per cent of AA members were dissatisfied with the roads.
“I won’t be surprised at all if when we do the next survey in February again this year, if that number has gone higher.”
Prior to the last general election, Thomsen said AA’s priority was a call for more road maintenance funding - $900 million to be precise.
He said Labour’s $500 million towards the issue was a step in the right direction but ultimately in fell short in what was needed to catch up on the backlog.
A Government spokesperson said that during the 2021/22 financial year more than 45,000 potholes were repaired across the 11,000km of New Zealand’s state highway network and a further 2,400km of state highway is due to be resealed or rebuilt by April.
“We are investing close to $7 billion in local road and state highway maintenance as part of the NLTP (National Land Transport Programme) 21-24, which will see around 7000 lane kilometres of state highway and 18,000 lane kilometres of local roads renewed,” they said.
“High volumes of rainfall affected both state highways and local roads last year, making it a very challenging environment, particularly regarding potholes.”
Potholes have become a big issue for motorists around the country. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Transport Minister Michael Wood ordered a review in August last year of why there appeared to be so many potholes despite significant increases in road maintenance funding in the last two transport budgets.
A briefing from the Ministry of Transport and Waka Kotahi to Wood, earlier reported after being released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, noted he had “expressed concerns about delivery” of road maintenance promises and ordered a review of what had gone wrong.
Wood’s comments to officials, recorded in the briefing, pondered whether “it is worth considering some heavy-hitting external expertise to really turn over what is happening at the delivery end”.
The briefing updated Wood on “the way forward” for the maintenance of New Zealand’s roads, and pointed out 41 recommendations for improving the situation.
Wood earlier told the Herald that “high volumes of rainfall had been affecting state highways and local roads this year, making it a very challenging environment, particularly regarding potholes”.
“In August I sought assurances from Waka Kotahi that there was a clear plan to communicate to the public around why potholes were appearing on parts of the network, and the repair plan.
“Waka Kotahi contractors nationally have been working around the clock to address the impact of the severe weather on the state highway network. For example, contractors often find potholes that have recently been filled are reappearing due to ongoing rain and the pumping action generated by vehicles passing over the potholes,” Wood said.
A recent tweet by Wood claimed that heavy trucks were part of the cause of potholes.
In his claim, Wood blamed a 2010 policy change allowing 50MAX heavy trucks, weighing up to 53 tonnes, on the roads.
“This accusation is completely inaccurate,” Leggett said. “Peer-reviewed studies referenced on NZTA’s own website confirm that 50MAX trucks have no more impact on pavement than a standard Class 1 vehicle, due to their additional axle configuration.”
1/11 Potholes are in the news today. They have been around as long as our roads have, but when they happen frequently they are v.frustrating for drivers. Here’s why there have been more in recent years & what we are doing about it: i) Historic underinvestment. National froze ... pic.twitter.com/NeRRWzto1g
5/11 ... They allowed trucks up to 53 tonnes from 2010. Heavier trucks do a lot more damage – sometimes hundreds times more due to the “4th power law”. This was at the same time as they froze maintenance budgets. https://t.co/kd2PWAkwd4
Leggett added: “Even if they did, New Zealand’s road user charges system is calculated based on the vehicle’s impact on road surface, so trucks and heavy vehicles are more than paying their way.
“Ninety-three per cent of all products in New Zealand are delivered by truck. Doing nothing about the state of our roads will literally bring the domestic economy to a standstill.”
