'Logging trucks will ruin landscape'

Meeting a logging truck on a tight corner on the winding Thames coast road can be terrifying.

With a steep bank on one side and a big drop down to the Hauraki Gulf on the other, there is no room for error on parts of State Highway 25 between Thames and Coromandel.

In some places the road is one-lane, making an oncoming logging truck a daunting sight.

And then there are the pohutukawa which line the road.

The trees and the panoramic views make this one of the most scenic roads in the country.

The character of the road is something many local residents want to protect.

"We don't want to see it turned into a stretch of Auckland motorway," says Megan Graeme, of Whangapoua.

About 13 logging trucks a day use the road at present, and opponents of the planned sawmill at Te Rerenga say the number will increase dramatically.

The company behind the mill, Blue Mountain Lumber, says there will be fewer trucks on the road because the logs will be milled on-site - thus requiring fewer trucks to transport them.

Ms Graeme does not buy that argument. She said that at the moment most logging trucks from the area travelled south through Whitianga and rarely used the Thames coast road.

When the mill began operating, the trucks now heading south would instead use the coast road.

When Transit released a report in April saying that 56 pohutukawa along the road would have to be chopped to make way for the logging trucks, locals threatened to chain themselves to the trees.

Transit roading engineer Barry Dowset said at the time there was a "perception" that logging trucks made the road more dangerous but that was not backed up by accident statistics.

At the resource consent hearing for the mill, it was ruled that any adverse effects on State Highway 25 would be "no more than minor".

Logging truck driver Clive Smith, who has used the coast road for eight years, said it was no worse than any other he had driven in his 25-year career.

"It's sweet when you do it every day."

But he said the pohutukawa were often knocked by truck trailers.