Michael Wood orders ‘please explain’ over proliferation of potholes

Transport Minister Michael Wood has ordered officials to explain why there are so many potholes. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Government is taking advantage of the warmer weather to embark on the biggest summer of pothole repair and road maintenance seen in New Zealand, resealing or rebuilding 2400 lane kilometres of state highway - about 10 per cent of the network.

There’s no conclusive way of gauging how many potholes there are on New Zealand’s roads - the data is largely anecdotal.

But in October, National launched a “pothole of the week” competition, after months of reports from the public of a spike in potholes.

They were not the only ones frustrated by the sudden proliferation of holes in the roads.

Transport Minister Michael Wood ordered a review 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 - NZ Transport Agency to Wood from August, 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 told the Herald that “high volumes of rainfall have 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.

Waka Kotahi is reviewing the contracts it has with the companies that fix those roads to see whether they have “capability to deliver programmes to time, cost, and quality”. Wood received weekly briefings on that work.

In the transport sector, the Government operates on three-yearly budget cycles. In the 2018-21 and 2021-24 cycles, the Government signalled it wanted big increases in road maintenance funding.

The 2018-21 transport budget boosted state highway maintenance funding by 18 per cent. Funding was increased again in the 2021-24 budget, which directed Waka Kotahi to spend between $750 million and $980m on state highway maintenance this fiscal year to the end of June.

Potholes stirred political controversy over winter. Photo / Andrew Warner

Wood’s review identified four particular areas of improvement including that the GPS (Government Policy Statement - Wellington jargon for a transport budget) “more clearly signal outcomes sought from maintenance activities”.

National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown was unimpressed by the review, dubbing it “another working group”.

“After significant pressure from frustrated motorists, the Government is finally starting to look at how they can ensure our roads are getting the maintenance they need and that our roads are being maintained to the quality that road users expect.”

Brown said Labour had become distracted by the Auckland light rail project, which it prioritised instead of “getting the basics right”.

Act’s transport spokesman Simon Court said motorists had become frustrated with the damage being done to vehicles.

“Act revealed in October there had been 555 complaints to NZTA about damage to vehicles, but NZTA had only compensated four people,” Court said.

“New Zealand’s roads have deteriorated in recent years, claims for compensation have doubled in the past five years. The answer is better roading infrastructure, not slowing people down with lower speed limits.”

Court suggested the Government look to increase private sector investment in roads to improve the situation.

He said that would “inject much-needed discipline into decision-making and target spending in the right places”.

Wood shot back at Brown saying National had “flat-lined road maintenance spending, so since coming into government, we have boosted it by nearly 50 per cent to help bring our roads back up to scratch”.

Wood said close to $7 billion would be invested in road maintenance between 2021 and 2024, which would “see around 7000 lane kilometres of state highway and 18,000 lane kilometres of local roads renewed”.

A lane kilometre is a single lane wide.

The briefing said the next three-year GPS, which will begin in 2024, will have a range of improvements to ensure funding delivers better outcomes.

There would be a “dedicated workstream” on “monitoring, evaluation, and value for money in the attempt of driving improvements” in road maintenance.

The Ministry of Transport would also work with Waka Kotahi to develop an “appropriate set of metrics” for a reporting framework that would help the Government “better link expenditure to outcomes”.

The report also recommended a further review of the efficiency and effectiveness of local road maintenance. State highways are entirely managed by Waka Kotahi, while local roads are funded and maintained jointly by councils and Waka Kotahi. The Government directed Waka Kotahi to spend between $670m and $780m on local road maintenance this fiscal year.

Wood’s comments questioned whether there was a “systemic” issue in road maintenance that affected not just state highways, but local roads too.

Another recommendation was to develop a better plan of monitoring state highway maintenance costs over the long-term, rather than the short-term approach currently taken.

The report also recommended establishing a team focused on monitoring road maintenance, investigating cost variances and whether further controls could be put in place to ensure expenditure “better aligns with targets and budget”, and better monitoring traffic so spending could be targeted to the right areas.

Wood said that between “late September 2022 and April 2023, more than 2400 lane kilometres of state highway would be resealed or rebuilt from Cape Reinga to Bluff - more than 10 per cent of the state highway network”.

“In terms of scale, this is the most significant renewal programme we have ever undertaken. For context in the 2021/22 financial year alone more than 45,000 potholes were repaired across the 11,000km of New Zealand’s state highway network,” Wood said.