Bus company says Far North rural roads need repairs

A slip, also on Whangape Rd, that has a grown after last week's heavy rain. The only action so far has been to mark it as a hazard.

Some rural children might have trouble getting to school soon if nothing is done to improve a number of Far North roads.

Ritchies' Kaitaia-Mangonui operations manager Mike Swinburne said last week he had told his drivers that if a road had deteriorated to the point where their buses or passengers were at risk they should return to the depot in Kaitaia.

Mr Swinburne cited Whangape, Pawarenga and Dangen's (Peria) roads as among the worst.

One of numerous spots on Whangape Rd where rain water has gouged channels in the the road surface.

Water had gouged channels across the roads, slips had not been repaired, road edges were breaking away in numerous locations, while a lack of metal had made some places so slippery that braking was sas perilous.

"Put the brakes on and the bus just slides," he said, adding that the root of the problem was a lack of watertable maintenance.

"No one's cleaning out the drains, so the water runs across the road, scouring out channels and breaking the road edge," he said.

"Some places are just about impassable, and it's going to get worse given that we are bound to get more wet weather for some months."

A slip on Whangape Rd had deteriorated over recent days, thanks to heavy rain, Mr Swinburne added. It had been marked with pegs but nothing had been done about repairing it, and it was now close to closing the road to school buses, if not all traffic.