Road sealing will go ahead, council says

Councillor Greg Martin, pictured, calling for Government subsidies to fix dust and other safety problems on Pipiwai/Titoki roads. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Rural residents who have spent years choking under a pall of road dust have been promised by Whangarei District Council they will soon be able to breathe easier.

If three subsidised funding options WDC has applied for from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) are unsuccessful, the council will go ahead anyway and fully fund sealing 100m-strips outside 120 priority sites in the district.

WDC chief executive Mark Simpson and councillor Greg Martin, chairman of the infrastructure committee, voiced that commitment at a meeting organised by the Pipiwai/Titoki roads action group at Pipiwai's Tau Henare Marae yesterday.

Mr Simpson said "do it ourselves" was the least-preferred option, but if it became the only choice a three-year staged funding regime to seal 120 strips through the district would see work begin in October.

The council would not know until April if any of its three applications to NZTA for differing level subsidies were successful, and didn't want to start work beforehand in case doing so jeopardised its chances, Mr Simpson said. He said it was not just a case of the dust being a nuisance.

"It is a health issue. We don't shy away from that at all."

Residents have argued for 11 years that was the case, made worse in recent years and set to increase because of a huge growth in logging traffic. Tests by Northland Regional Council and Northland District Health Board found the levels and size of inhalable particles breached national health standards.

The two authorities are backing the district council's application for subsidies.

Pipiwai Titoki advocacy group spokeswoman Alex Wright said there were other road safety issues caused by up to 80 heavy-haulage vehicles a day using Wright and McCardle Rds. Twice a day the local school bus travelled the worst affected roads, often in white-out conditions, she said.

"The driver has one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand on the RT (radio telephone) so she can find out where the next logging truck is on the road - she can't see for the dust."

WDC is also calling for the Mangakahia to Otaika route to be designated a state highway. Mr Martin said 49 per cent of the forestry traffic using local roads came from the Far North and Kaipara districts.

"It is not equitable that these additional costs are being met by Whangarei ratepayers."

Mr Martin called for all stakeholders to "put their shoulders to the wheel" to get the local situation remedied. WDC sought as many supporting submissions as possible, he said. "It is critical we all work together."

Whangarei MP Shane Reti (National Party), Winston Peters (NZ First) and Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori Party) have all pledged to lobby the Northland roading issue in Parliament.

Whangarei District Council is asking NZTA for:
? The Regional Development Fund programme to fully fund sealing Wright and McCardle Rds, estimated $4.5 million.
? A fall-back option, the normal subsidy of 53 per cent to seal Wright and McCardle Rds.
? If both the above are unsuccessful, a 53 per cent subsidy to seal strips in front of houses.