Motorists heading south into Auckland on SH1 near Dome Valley were troubled by a section of road peeling off. Photo / Supplied
Motorists heading south into Auckland on SH1 near Dome Valley were troubled by a section of road peeling off. Photo / Supplied
Work to repair a section of State Highway 1 near Dome Valley that was peeling off and sticking to people’s cars is almost complete, but further progress is weather-dependent.
In a traffic bulletin, Waka Kotahi NZTA said the section of road near Frog Pool Farm is now almost complete, with approximately 800 metres of asphalt laid on Monday night.
Fulton Hogan is carrying out the repairs after a reseal failed due to the new chip seal surface stripping after heavy overnight rain, exacerbated by warm weather on Saturday, causing the bitumen to bleed and chip seal stick to vehicle tyres.
State Highway 1 through Dome Valley has been and will continue to be closed overnight from 8pm to 5am until Friday to complete the work.
The road is closed to all traffic travelling between Wellsford and Warkworth.
Work to repair SH1 near Dome Valley is almost complete says Waka Kotahi NZTA. Photo / NZME
“The above information is accurate at the time of release. These works are dependent on a number of factors, particularly weather, and may be postponed at short notice,” they said.
MetService has issued a heavy rain watch for Auckland north of the Harbour Bridge which encompasses the Dome Valley area.
The watch is in place until 10am tomorrow.
Earlier, Fulton Hogan has apologised to motorists for the debacle and Waka Kotahi said the recent resealing work fell “short of expectations” for work on state highways and would need to be rectified.
So far 58 people have contacted Fulton Hogan for compensation and the company said it was working with motorists whose cars have been directly affected by the road surface at the weekend.
Police said more than 40 motorists called in to complain with numerous cars reported to have pulled up along the road with tar stuck on their vehicle tyres and body.
The affected section is at the northern end of Dome Valley, about 4km south of the Mangawhai turnoff.
A police spokeswoman said contractors arrived at the scene shortly after 4.30pm and were directing traffic away from the main problem areas.
One motorist said an entire resealed section about a few kilometres long was lifting and kicking up tar and stones and sticking to cars.
There were 20-odd cars on the side of the road, with other cars crawling along to try to get through.
“There was a little old lady with an umbrella trying to get the tar off her tyres, but they were completely covered,” the motorist said.
Even when motorists made it through the resealed section, cars that had picked up the tar were kicking it off and on to other vehicles as they drove along, the motorist said.
Another motorist said they passed through at 3pm and first started noticing cars pulled over about 4km north of Sheepworld.
The motorist said the chipseal was caking up around the tyres of some cars so heavily that they had no choice but to pull over.
“It’s either they put the traffic on it too soon or - considering the rest of the new chipseal has held up - there must have been an issue with the last section they did.”
