Opinion: Taranaki lifeline - SH43 roading improvements essential

Stratford District Mayor Neil Volzke speaking at the official start of the Kahouri Stream Bridge upgrade. Photo / Ilona Hanne

OPINION

Construction of the new bridge over the Kahouri Stream on SH43 Forgotten World Highway has begun.

The new two-lane structure will replace the existing narrow, single-lane bridge and will facilitate a new road alignment to make the approaches from both directions much safer.

This is a major project that along with a number of others, will improve the safety of the drive along the highway that links Stratford and Taumaranui. The other major project along the route is the sealing of the 12km long section of road through the Tangarakau Gorge; this is scheduled to be completed next summer with preparation work being done in the months between.

SH43 has always been a challenge with successive mayors of the Stratford District as far back as the 1960s calling for improvements and upgrades. Over this period sections of the road have been sealed and improved, making travel much safer and more comfortable. The long-term strategy for attracting more visitors to the region is based on removing barriers and making it easier to travel here; the goal is edging slightly closer.

We also know that this highway is the lifeline to the people who live in the eastern parts of the region and is vital as a key enabler for their farming operations. So often in the past the debate for investment funding has centred on the number of vehicles using the road, which is valuable to know but often misleading. A better measure is what type of vehicles are using the road and what role do they play in farming operations. Stock trucks, milk tankers, fertiliser trucks, harvesting machinery and farm supplies or service vehicles are totally reliant on the quality of the roading infrastructure and we shouldn’t lose sight of that.

But more than that, SH43 is also a very important inter-regional arterial route that adds resilience to road access in and out of the region. Remember Taranaki is a largely remote region – away from the major state highways, with a fragile northern road network prone to damage and closures as a result of weather events. Our regional highways and roads are declining because of increased use and a lack of long-term investment in maintenance.

As we have seen in the past 12 months, weather events are having a major impact on regional transport networks around the country – cutting off communities and impacting supply chains. These events bring focus on the words connectivity and resilience, both of which have taken on greater importance of late. Having reliable, resilient roading networks is at the heart of any recovery programme following natural disasters like those experienced in Hawke’s Bay. Only now, after three months as some roads are reopened, is the recovery response able to gear up and work towards a return to normality.

It’s my view that every dollar spent on preventative maintenance and safety improvements on roading infrastructure should be seen as a dollar well spent. It is an investment in resilience. But the problem facing every council and the government is that the bucket of money available to do this work is shrinking in real terms. Road maintenance costs have skyrocketed to in excess of 17 per cent this year alone and this could easily double within the next two years. The outcome will be that less work will be done, simply because the available money won’t stretch far enough to allow even the status quo to continue.

• Neil Volzke is Stratford District mayor