Luke Kirkness: Potholes are there to be fixed, let's roll up our sleeves

Potholes near the Tarawera roundabout in 2016. Photo / Ben Fraser

OPINION

Earlier this week it was reported State Highway 2 had the most potholes of any road in the Bay of Plenty, hardly a surprise given its route.

Meanwhile, over the past five years, the number of potholes across the region has declined in most areas, including Tauranga. That's not the case for Rotorua, however.

Data obtained by this newspaper revealed Rotorua's pothole numbers had increased from 741 in 2016 to 1021 in 2020 — a nearly 38 per cent increase in five years.

Potholes are terribly annoying things too, not only are they eyesores but if you hit one at the wrong angle you risk blowing a tyre, which can be a real nuisance.

It happened to a Te Teko couple who were driving through Tauranga last month at night and during a heavy downpour. They were lucky a "guardian angel" pulled over in the rain to help them out.

A spokesman for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency humorously likened potholes to tooth cavities, saying water does to roads what sugar does to our teeth.

"When water penetrates the road surface through cracks, tyre action and weather can quickly turn these cracks into potholes."

I'm no expert (that's never a great thing to admit in an opinion piece) but as long as we have vehicles, roads, and weather, we're going to have potholes.

But that's no excuse not to do anything about them.

Potholes also seem to go left unrepaired for some time in areas, with one street on my commute in Tauranga boasting a half dozen or so in a kilometre stretch.

I figure fewer vehicles on the road would help reduce the number of potholes created. Should more of us commit to public transport, cycling or walking?

Both our local and regional councils say they have been flat out repairing potholes across the region and I believe them, but there's got to be more we can do.

I wondered if there was anyone out there clever enough to design a way we could transform our household waste into more durable road material but I'm not sure.

Maybe we just need to roll up our sleeves and get to work but that might be said more easier than done, unfortunately.

Last week we heard about our region's employment woes, with some in Western Bay struggling to fill positions and being forced to redirect staff into different roles.

In some cases, people paid for work with no skills required were quitting because the work was too hard and they would rather be on the dole at home.

It came hard on the heels of increased vacancies and a labour shortage that has created a market that favours job hunters.

However, a recruiter in Rotorua said 70 per cent of applicants looking for work were no-shows at interviews.

But as our pothole report showed, there is work to be done.