Hihi mum Lynley Stephens (right) has advised her daughter Daisy (left) to fly to the Far North rather than drive after her tyre blew out when she hit one of Northland's numerous potholes.
Northlanders fed up with playing dodgems on state highways splattered with potholes are modifying their cars or opting to use other modes of transport altogether rather than risk further damage.
It’s official - the number of potholes is on the rise, particularly in Northland, according to Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency data.
And it’s causing a whole lot of pain for drivers and damaging their vehicles.
Hihi resident Lynley Stephens is irate at the state of the roads after her daughter – a beginner driver – hit a pothole which blew out her tyre on SH10 near the Mangōnui ITM.
18-year-old Daisy, who lives in Auckland and only recently got her restricted licence, was visiting her mum last weekend.
“She was coming home and it was dark, when she went over a huge sunken bit in the road and potholes. She said her car went ‘bang’, then the car started wobbling.
“She continued on driving ‘til she got home, and the next day phoned Warren at [his Ohia tyre shop], and he said he’d just had someone else in with a buckled rim from the same pothole that day.”
Stephens said the incident has shaken them both so much, she’s told Daisy not to drive north to visit her in future.
“I’ve said, ‘Daisy, I don’t want you driving up here because the roads are so bad’.
“It’s terrible. She’s going to fly.”
More than 211,000 potholes have been reported on New Zealand state highways over the past five years, with the overwhelming majority in Waikato, ahead of Canterbury, Northland, Taranaki, Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty.
In Northland 19,301 potholes were attended to by Waka Kotahi’s contractors between 2018-2022.
But that pales in comparison to the last 18 months, in which a whopping 26,350 potholes were reported across the region.
Of these, 17,908 potholes were filled in 2022 and 8442 potholes have been filled so far this year.
Stephens said she wants compensation from Waka Kotahi for the cost of the new tyre, which is around $200.
“More importantly, I want these roads fixed properly.
“They’re getting dangerous. Every day after more rain, I’m noticing changes in them. There seem to be slumps under the road now.
“If you hit them, your car could get shoved onto the other side of the road. I’m always swerving to dodge the potholes - it’s like one of those computer games.”
Waka Kotahi regional maintenance and operations manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult said heavy rain and climate change were to blame for the increase in potholes in Northland.
“Potholes will often appear during heavy rain events, and we’re seeing these events occur more frequently now due to climate change.
“After a very wet winter in 2022, Northland recorded its wettest summer on record.
“In January, Northland received 485 per cent of the expected rainfall for the month, and that was before Cyclone Gabrielle in February.
“The continued extraordinary wet weather has proven to be a recipe for pothole formation in various areas around Northland, and also across Aotearoa.”
However, Stephens said it’s also down to substandard roading materials.
“It’s the bitumen they’re using - they’re just patching the holes up, and we get another shower and it washes it away.”
Marsden Point Oil Refinery officially closed in March 2022 and stopped producing bitumen the year before, leaving the country reliant on imported bitumen for roading projects.
Former roading contractor Keith Taylor said though he couldn’t comment on the bitumen quality, it’s clear not enough resealing or maintenance work is being done.
The 81-year-old said he was a roading contractor “all my working life”, starting out at age 24 and working on Northland roads and state highways for McBreen Jenkins and as a self-employed contractor.
Taylor said he is “absolutely disgusted” at the state of Northland’s highways.
“We put our whole life into getting Northland ahead, and it’s continually getting downgraded.”
The main problem is water getting into the substructures, Taylor said.
“When a roof leaks in your house, it rots the inside of the house, so what do you do? You fix the roof.
“Roads are no different.
“A pothole is like a hole in your roof. Yes, you can patch it up, but a patch is never as good as a new roof.”
Taylor, a Whangārei resident, said he’s even had to change the wheel rims on his car so they don’t suffer constant damage.
“We try to avoid potholes, but we had to change the rims on our car because the rims kept getting bent.”
Taylor said the pothole problem doesn’t stem from the current Government alone.
“The last real effort on roads in Northland was in the ‘60s when I worked for McBreens.
“Like everything, infrastructure has been underfunded in this Government for years.
“But this Government’s not always to blame; the only one [which] tried to do anything was the John Key government.”
Hori-Hoult acknowledged Waka Kotahi has “a duty of care to maintain the network to an appropriate level”.
“But by their nature, roads deteriorate over time and there will be issues that appear,” she said.
“It is not possible to maintain the entire 11,000 kilometres of state highway in a defect-free condition, and due to this, we strongly encourage all motorists to have insurance cover and to drive to the conditions.
“We also recommend drivers fit their vehicles with the appropriate tyres, given the majority of damage is to vehicles with low profile tyres.”
Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering roading, health, business and animal welfare issues.