Bay View commuter slams timing of road works on problematic Hawke’s Bay highway

Roadworks on State Highway 2 south of Bay View between January to April this year. Several sections of the road have had repairs in recent months. Photo / Warren Buckland

Resealing the highway between Bay View and Napier is causing more frustration for commuters, with one questioning why it couldn’t be done at night after a two-hour return trip.

Waka Kotahi is advising motorists they will be resurfacing State Highway 2, immediately south of Fannin St, about five kilometres north of Hawke’s Bay Airport, until Friday.

Workers will be on-site from 9am to 3pm daily, with road users advised to prepare for delays because there is no detour route.

Mike Terry, a fisherman from Napier, said traffic queues snaked all the way from the airport in the south to the Esk River Bridge 5km to the north yesterday afternoon.

“I left something at home that I needed for the boat. It took me slightly over two hours to go from by the Bluewater [hotel], out to my place and back.”

It took Terry’s wife 45 minutes to get from the airport to the Waitomo petrol station in Bay View.

Despite frustrations, Terry says he and other locals support the roadworks - just at a different time of day.

“I’m all for getting the roads fixed, but on a main route like this, why don’t they do it at night like Auckland?” he said.

Another social media user said “it took just under an hour” to travel from the SH5 intersection into Napier city.

The Bay View section has no alternative routes and is a well-used road - meaning it needs repairs more often.

Terry said motorists were having “trouble with rims, wheel alignments and so on”.

A spokesperson from Waka Kotahi said they regret that delays were longer than anticipated.

“To ensure that there was enough space for the construction team to work safely, the site was required to remain under single lane, stop-go traffic management longer than was expected.”

Road resurfacing must be done in and around summer as the conditions allow for better road sealing.

Work began in January to repair the section between Ōnehunga and Franklin Rds, while the section between Kaimata and Franklin Rds was repaired in April.

Then in June, Waka Kotahi said the result did not meet expectations and needed to be rectified at the expense of contractor Higgins.

The agency said there had been challenges such as record rainfall and staffing shortages.