Whanganui councillor David Bennett hits out at NZTA over Parapara repairs

Whanganui district councillor David Bennett says the state of the Parapara road is deplorable.

The condition of the Parapara road between Whanganui and Raetihi has been labelled "deplorable" by one Whanganui district councillor and the NZ Transport Agency says it would be open to meeting with the community.

The state highway between Whanganui and Raetihi has been dotted with dropouts since severe rain damaged roading throughout the district June 2015.

David Bennett told Whanganui District Council's Tuesday meeting that pressure needed to be put on NZTA because the situation "really hasn't improved virtually since June 2015".

"The lack of any attempt to fix the 2015 dropouts and subsidence should be a matter that ... council itself should be bringing to state highways' attention because it's just deplorable and it can't be allowed to go on," he said.

"If we don't look out, the road will be downgraded from a national highway and become a council asset and we'll have to look after it."

But NZTA regional transport systems manager Paul Murphy said 22 slips had been repaired on the Parapara since the June 2015.

Four of the 12 currently on the road remain from that time.

"Due to the nature of the road and its susceptibility to severe weather, repair work has been ongoing since the numerous severe weather events of June 2015 that affected various parts of the road," Murphy said.

Slips and traffic lights are a near constant feature of the Parapara. Photo/ Bevan Conley

Wanganui Rural Community Board chairman David Matthews said while some of the original washouts had been fixed, he agreed "it has been let go a little bit".

He suggested a meeting between with the community and NZTA be held.

"So that the community knows what's happening, because at the moment they don't. A meeting with NZTA about what their plan is for out road," Matthews said.

Murphy told the Chronicle the NZTA would be open to attending a public meeting if the council requested one.

At the 100 year anniversary of the Parapara in 2017 Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall said he had said some "incendiary" things about the state of the road that got NZTA listening.

"The best way it seems is to is to note it in the media that work has been quite deleteriously done."

Meanwhile, Murphy said the majority of the sites undergoing work currently restricting traffic on the road will be completed by the end of the 2018/19 construction season.

The Anzac Parade wall is expected to be completed in June 2019.