Far North Council's plans to seal rural roads

Dust will soon be but a memory on Awanui's Kumi Rd. Picture / Peter Jackson

The Far North District Council plans to spend more than $4 million this financial year on sealing a total of 10km of six rural roads.

The council would itself fund sealing of 3.9km of Kumi Rd (Awanui), 1.3km of Porotu Rd (Oromahoe) and 1km of Puketi Rd (Okaihau), likely starting early next year, general manager infrastructure and asset management Andy Finch said, while the NZTA was expected to pay two-thirds of the cost of sealing 200m of Otangaroa Rd (Kaeo), 1.7km of Church Rd (Kaitaia), and 1.8km of Koropewa Rd (Waipapa).

Mr Finch said the long-term plan committed the council to spending $11 million on sealing "critical risk" roads over 10 years.

"These are roads that cause community concern about dust generation, and were selected using a newly-developed prioritisation matrix," he said.

"This ranks individual roads based on criteria such as traffic volumes, the number of residents, the presence of schools, marae and other community facilities, and whether the road is a significant detour route."

The matrix ensured that sealing decisions were based on transparent criteria that were applied fairly and consistently across the whole district.

The cost of the first three projects would be met under the council's $3 million unsubsidised priority seal extension programme, while it was intended that the others would be subsidised by the NZ Transport Agency, which would make a final decision once a business case was presented by the Northland Transportation Alliance.

Contracts would be awarded to Broadspectrum and Fulton Hogan.