NZTA has just completed the largest road maintenance programme in Northland in a decade.
NZTA has just completed the largest road maintenance programme in Northland in a decade.
Northland’s state highway network has undergone the largest road renewal programme in a decade.
However, road safety advocates believe there is still a lot more to be done to keep drivers safe.
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) recently completed its 2024-25 summer maintenance season in which about 204lane kms of state highway was resealed, resurfaced, and rebuilt across Northland over the past nine months.
The work was carried out from last September to May at a cost of $47 million and included about 26 lane km of rebuilding, which was a significant increase from previous years.
“The 2024–2025 road renewal season stands out as the most significant in recent history for Northland, and the largest we’ve undertaken since our current contract began nearly 10 years ago,” an NZTA spokesperson said.
“We’ve been resealing, resurfacing, and rebuilding sites across the region to ensure people can get to where they want, quickly and safely.”
RoadSafe Northland co-ordinator Ashley Johnston said the roadworks were great but improvements needed to go hand in hand with road safety education.
This included focusing on driver behaviour to prevent fatalities and serious injuries in Northland, which has one of the worst safety records in the country, she said.
“It’s great we’re focusing on infrastructure, but let’s not lose sight of making sure we’re aware of what’s causing deaths ... not wearing seatbelts, speed, alcohol and drugs, and distractions.
“We need to keep focusing on road safety education to make sure drivers are making good choices on our roads.
“... It’s so important to keep a focus on the things that are killing our people.”
According to the Ministry of Transport, there have been 12 deaths on Northland roads so far this year.
RoadSafe Northland co-ordinator Ashley Johnston says roadworks need to go hand in hand with education about road safety.
NZTA’s recent summer maintenance season was the first year of roadworks under the 2024-2027 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) for which NZTA received total funding of $258.6m.
It follows NZTA’s June 2024 confirmation that it would deliver a record $2.07b for state highway pothole prevention and $1.9b for local road pothole prevention around the country over the next three years.
AA Northland District Council chairwoman Tracey Rissetto said the work reflected the investment the coalition Government was putting into road maintenance.
“Northland got a big share of the spend, so it’s fantastic they’ve been able to get the work done.
“...We’ve had years of non-maintenance and underspending, so it’s a large catch-up.
“There’s still a lot to do, but it’s a good start and it’s the most work we’ve had done for ages.”
Completed resurfacing projects include SH1 Turntable Hill in Moerewa and the Brynderwyns, along with SH1 Kamo Bypass and SH14 Maunu Rd in Whangārei.
The road rebuild on SH1 through Kawakawa was among projects completed in NZTA’s recent summer maintenance season.
Road rebuild projects included SH1 Hikurangi and Otaika, SH12 near Dargaville Aerodrome, and SH1 through Kawakawa township, which was complex because the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway ran through the worksite.
NZTA regional manager maintenance and operations Jacqui Hori-Hoult said some planned works were pushed to next season because of April’s heavy rain, including the rebuild of the southbound lanes at SH1 Akerama.
“The team has put in a huge amount of mahi to get as much work completed as possible,” she said.
Hori-Hoult said teams would now focus on essential tasks to keep roads open during winter, such as unblocking drains in flood-prone areas, clearing roadside vegetation, and patching more potholes.
About 200 lane km were expected to be completed in the 2025/26 road maintenance season, and another 240 lane km in 2026/27.
All up, around 644 lane km of Northland’s state highways will have been resealed, resurfaced, and rebuilt under the 2024-2027 NLTP funding period.
That compares to 333 lane km in the 2021-24 programme.
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and animal welfare issues.
