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Residents in the Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier say their homes are damaged and nerves frayed due to nearby roadworks.
Roads are being dug up for major upgrades, including stormwater upgrades, and improvements for walking and cycling. While some residents support the change, they are struggling to live through it.
Audrey moved to Auckland from Christchurch and said the way her house shakes, while the neighbouring road is dug up, is dredging up unpleasant memories.
“I was in the Christchurch earthquakes, all of them, so it’s definitely setting off a bit of anxiety because of the level of shaking, all of our ornaments are shaking.”
Jodie Hunter is on the same road and believes her house is being damaged by the shaking.
“Our house is newly renovated, and we’ve got cracks along the joins of the walls and on the ceiling and around the edges of the house.”
Both women say they have woken up to find they can’t leave their homes due to works blocking their driveways. They have tried to call an 0800 number given to residents affected by the works but couldn’t get through.
“It just would be really nice if there was actually a functional phone number for residents to be calling to discuss these kinds of issues, and I hope that Dempsey Wood or Auckland Transport - or whoever’s responsibility it is - actually steps up and takes responsibility and works better alongside the communities they’re working in.”
Hunter supports the work being done, but the process has been difficult to live through.
“Currently at the moment, if there’s heavy rain then you end up getting sewage spills onto Point Chev Beach, which is really disgusting, so I totally understand that it’s work that needs to be done and I’m very supportive of the work being undertaken.
“What I’m upset about and concerned about is that we’ve had very poor communication.”
Mark Banfield, Auckland Transport group manager of infrastructure projects, said he was aware of complaints about possible house damage due to shaking, and all would be investigated.
He said all residents affected by works blocking driveways should have been contacted.
“I think there’s a risk that maybe we missed one or two. I see from a particular resident, that they’ve complained that they didn’t have that access notification, and I’m sorry for that,” he said.
“That’s obviously not the way we try and do business and communicate with our stakeholders, so apologies again if that’s occurred.”
Banfield said the issue with the phone number was a technical glitch, which meant certain kinds of phones were not able to call through. This has now been fixed, he said.
Overall, he said the organisation has been working hard to communicate with residents and when he’s on site he gets positive feedback.
“Hats off to the residents, they’re having to endure a lot. It’s a major project, it’s got significant upgrade works going on for obviously great long-term benefits, but it isn’t without pain and so hats off to those residents.
“In terms of our communication with them, I think our teams, both our contractor led teams, and our AT led teams are doing a great job on the ground all considered.”
Banfield said construction on the Point Chevalier and Westmere projects will continue well into next year.
Meola Road, a major road linking the two suburbs, will reopen to traffic late in April, although work will continue on the road for some time yet. The road has been closed since December.
