The closure in last month's storm of almost every road connecting the Far North to the rest of the country shows the government's road spending priorities are wrong, a Far North District councillor says.
At the height of July's storm State Highways 1, 10, 11 and 12 were all closed by floods or slips, some in multiple places. When Mangakahia Rd was also closed that left only one precarious lane of SH14 at Kaihu connecting the Far North with the rest of the country.
Some petrol stations ran dry and supermarkets ran out of bread and milk. Airports were also closed due to the wild weather. SH1, 10 and 11 were again impassible after Tuesday night's deluge.
Councillor Ann Court, the Far North's representative on Northland's Regional Transport Committee, said the government's criteria for deciding which roading projects to fund had been changed to favour Auckland and a handful of 'Roads of National Significance' (RONs).
It was the government's prerogative to decide how money should be spent, but the changes had made it almost impossible to get funding for Far North roading projects. A sparsely populated rural area could not tick the government's boxes on congestion, public transport, RONs and freight.