Concerns raised over lack of monitoring of potholes on Northland state highway network

Northland Road Safety Trust programme manager Ashley Johnston said it's concerning that Waka Kotahi doesn't record information on potholes and instead relies on contractors. Photo / Tania Whyte

A Northland road safety expert is concerned about the monitoring of potholes on the region's state highways, after revelations that the Government's transport agency doesn't record the information.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency specifies through its maintenance contracts that potholes on state highways are to be repaired within two to four days, dependent on the size and location of the pothole.

However, questions put to Transport Minister Michael Wood by National Transport spokesman Simeon Brown revealed Waka Kotahi doesn't record the information, instead leaving it up to contractors to deal with.

Northland Road Safety Trust programme manager Ashley Johnston said from a safety point of view, "it's really concerning".

"Unless people are reporting it, a lot of potholes are getting missed," Johnston said.

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"The concern is that Waka Kotahi isn't aware of potholes if they're relying on contractors.

"It's a concern as to who's monitoring our roads and making sure they're safe for members of the public to drive on."

Brown said he put a number of questions about pothole repairs to Transport Minister Wood in July.

He asked if Waka Kotahi measured whether the maintenance contract requirement to repair potholes on the state highway network within two to four days is met, and if so, what percentage of potholes is repaired within this timeframe each year.

The reply was that Waka Kotahi "does not record this information and that it is the expectation that its contractors proactively manage the network and apply treatments to prevent the occurrence of potholes within two to four days".

The latest Road to Zero monitoring report named Northland as one of three regions underperforming in cutting the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads. Photo / Tania Whyte

"It's concerning given the safety issues resulting from unrepaired potholes," Brown said.

"I'm surprised they don't actively monitor the contractors to fulfill the contractual obligations to repair potholes in two to four days.

"When we have potholes peppering our highways... repairing them needs to be a top priority."

Waka Kotahi regional transport services manager for Auckland and Northland, Jacqui Hori-Hoult, said maintenance contractors track and record the number of potholes and share the information with Waka Kotahi.

"While details of the percentage of potholes repaired within a specified period of time are not separately recorded, Waka Kotahi staff regularly assess the condition of state highway surfaces to ensure that the roads are being maintained to the contractually required standards," she said.

Hori-Hoult said over 4000 potholes were repaired across 987km of Northland's state highways in the 2021-22 financial year.

More than $117m is being spent on the maintenance and renewal of Northland's state highways in the 2021-2024 National Land Transport Programme, she said, "a larger investment than ever before".

But road safety expert Johnston said the state of Northland state highways was "not good enough", with "a lot of potholes and scabbing on the roads".

"You just have to travel a bit further south to notice the difference, like Hamilton and the Waikato.

"Northland is a long way behind what it should be," Johnston said.

"It's a sad reality when we say 'drive to conditions' we mean conditions of the road, not just the weather.

"Our roads in Northland are terrible, so you also need to drive to those conditions, which is a scary thought."

National Transport spokesman Simeon Brown is surprised Waka Kotahi doesn't "actively monitor the contractors to fulfill the contractual obligations to repair potholes in two to four days". Photo / File

National Road Carriers chief operating officer James Smith said potholes are a result of "pay-as-you-go road funding".

"New Zealand has badly potholed roads because road maintenance is inadequately funded from pay-as-you-go road user charges levied on trucks instead of being well funded and built as core infrastructure from the outset," Smith said.

"This is not just a local Northland issue. New Zealand has a pothole problem everywhere from Kaitaia to Bluff because the way we fund roads is flawed."

Brown said it was also interesting that the Road to Zero monitoring report, released by the Ministry of Transport in July, "doesn't refer to potholes or pothole maintenance in the entire report".

"This highlights the Government's focus is in the wrong area to make sure the roads are safe," he said.

"They're quick to propose putting the speed limits down but slow to ensure roads are maintained to the right standards."

Waka Kotahi said the report doesn't mention pothole repairs because that work is monitored separately, and there are specific requirements for timely repairs in highway maintenance contracts.

Road to Zero portfolio manager Tara MacMillan said the Road to Zero Strategy is "evidence-based and targets those key improvements which will deliver the best possible reduction in deaths and serious injuries, in order to meet the target of a 40 percent reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030".

"This includes road infrastructure improvements, targeted enforcement, promoting safer road user behaviour through driver training and licencing, efforts to improve the safety of the New Zealand vehicle fleet and setting safe speed limits," MacMillan said.

National Road Carriers chief operating officer James Smith said potholes are a result of "pay-as-you-go road funding". Photo / File

The latest Road to Zero monitoring report named Northland as one of three regions underperforming in cutting the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads.

The overall target of the national strategy is to cut deaths and serious injuries by 40 percent by 2030, but on Northland roads, the number increased by 14 percent from 2020 to 2021.

The Automobile Association (AA) has expressed concerns about the report including "the bounce back in deaths on our roads this year".

The organisation is also troubled about "slow progress on upgrading roads with safety improvements like median barriers."

AA Northland district council chairwoman Tracey Rissetto said ultimately "drivers just want the roads to be in better shape than they are right now and for potholes to be fixed quickly when they appear".

"The length of time taken to repair potholes is certainly important and they need to be fixed rapidly, but what is even more important is doing enough of the larger-scale resurfacing and renewal work to highways so that we get less potholes forming in the first place," Rissetto said.