A cyclone survivor and the mayor of Hastings have both called for the troubled 115km Napier-Taihape Road to be turned into a state highway.
The road is the main alternate to the State Highway 5 Napier-Taupō road and weaves over the Kaweka mountain range.
The road crosses two districts and, as such, is managed by two councils - Hastings and Rangitikei.
Tragically, during Cyclone Gabrielle last February, motorist George Luke, 65, became trapped for three nights in an isolated part of that road and died in hospital after being rescued, suffering from severe hypothermia.
His partner, Maureen Goodman, survived and managed to alert rescuers after walking out of the slip-ravaged road.
The pair could not drive out as their vehicle was blocked between major slips.
Goodman said the road should become a state highway managed by the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, as she believed it would result in quicker and clearer road closure information for motorists.
Goodman said the road was still open at the Taihape end when they entered it at about 10pm on the night of the cyclone, February 13, 2023.
“I definitely think Waka Kotahi should man that road, and be the go-to,” she said.
“To this day I keep asking ‘why was that road open?’”
SH5 had been shut earlier in the evening by NZTA and the pair decided to try the Napier-Taihape Rd as an alternative back to Hastings.
She said they checked the NZTA website for road closure information unaware it was a council-operated road.
“When we got to Taihape and were making our way through that road, the signage just said that it was open,” she said.
“There were cars behind us in the earlier stages when we were going through that road.”
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst agreed that it would be better suited as a state highway.
“Both Hastings and Rangitikei councils have approached NZTA, and its earlier equivalents, many times over the years suggesting it should take over the management and funding of Taihape Rd,” she said.
“This is a road of inter-regional importance and is the only alternate route north to State Highway 5.
“It’s confusing for people having the road under the jurisdiction of two different councils, especially if they are trying to find information about the road.”
NZTA did consider taking over the road as a state highway in 2018, but that did not eventuate.
NZTA says that is because the Rangitikei District Council opted to discontinue the application.
However, that council refutes that claim and says it also wants to see the road become a state highway.
Hazlehurst said if NZTA took ownership of the road it would also ease strain on ratepayers.
The Hastings council estimates it still has over $10 million worth of cyclone repairs to complete on its half of Napier-Taihape Rd, on top of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cyclone repairs to other local roads and bridges.
“[With] the enormous costs we are facing to restore the district’s transport network after Cyclone Gabrielle, NZTA owning this road would ease the burden on our ratepayers,” Hazlehurst said.
“Currently we are tendering for a package of work between $10m and $11m for slip repairs and bridge repairs for the Taihape Rd.”
The road was closed for six weeks after the cyclone due to the extensive damage.
Rangitikei Mayor Andy Watson said the suggestion that the council had discontinued an application for the road to become a state highways was “an absolute joke”, and the council, like Hastings, had long been pushing for it to become a state highway.
NZTA says if the road becomes a state highway in future it will first need to be repaired to an “agreed-upon level of service”.
Under the Land Transport Management Act, NZTA can declare a road to be made a state highway.
NZTA director of regional relationships Linda Stewart said there was no current application being considered to make the road a state highway.
She said the process for a local road to become a state highway involved a council, or councils, putting forward a business case.
“The local authority concerned would [also] be required to invest in any repairs and maintenance needed to bring the local road in question up to a mutually agreed-upon level of service [before being made a state highway], in the same way NZTA invests in former state highways before revocation to a local authority.”
Motorists can check on both council websites for road closure information for the road.
NZTA also relays road closure information for the Napier-Taihape Rd on its journey planner website, as it considers that route to be an important connector.
“We did this in the days following Cyclone Gabrielle, for example, at a time when the full severity of Cyclone Gabrielle on the state highway network was still being identified,” Stewart said.
NZTA financially supports councils by paying a percentage of local road repairs through what is known as a funding assistance rate, which is currently set at 53 per cent for Hastings district.
Last year, the Government also earmarked $260m worth of funding for council-owned roading repairs across the Bay, most of which will go to Hastings district.
However, Hastings District Council - which manages 1600km of roads - is facing a cost of about $800m to repair its roads and bridges post-cyclone.
Goodman has vowed never to drive the entire Napier-Taihape Rd again but does visit the spot where her late partner was rescued near Kuripapango Junction.
A cross has been put up at that spot in his memory. Luke was the father of former rugby league star Isaac Luke.
Stuff has previously reported that the Napier-Taihape Rd was closed on the Napier end at 10.20pm on the night of the cyclone, but not on the Taihape end until after midnight.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.