State Highway 5 is the gateway from Napier to the north. Photo / Paul Taylor
State Highway 5 is the gateway from Napier to the north. Photo / Paul Taylor
A local truckie and Hastings' mayor are pleading with the New Zealand Transport Agency to do more than just fix the Napier-Taupō Rd with "Band-Aid" roadworks over the next 10 years.
State Highway 5 is the gateway from Napier to the North Island's most populous areas, including Auckland, but haslong been described as unforgiving.
Hawke's Bay Today can today reveal there are no capital works for the road in any of NZTA's future plans.
It's a fact uncovered by one of the people who drives it every day, truck driver Antony Alexander, who is speaking out in the hope his words can help save lives.
Five have died on the road since the start of December, including 21-year-old Aniwaniwa Kenrick from Hastings, who Alexander came across shortly after she had crashed.
"It is the only access to Hawke's Bay from the north," Hazlehurst said.
"We would like to see new safety improvements such as slow vehicle bays.
"The safety of the community on our roads is a major focus and too many people have been killed on State Highway 5.
"The Napier-Taupō Road is also a vital freight and passenger link for our business community and tourism operators, so it is more important than ever as we focus on stimulating our economy and recover from Covid-19.
"Through the HB Regional Transport Committee, we will be asking NZTA to invest in a road improvement plan and more maintenance to improve State Highway 5."
The scene at Te Pohue after a van left State Highway 5 near Te Pohue and rolled down a bank. Photo / Supplied
Waka Kotahi NZTA regional transport systems manager Oliver Postings said while the agency remained "committed" to improving the safety on Hawke's Bay state highway networks, including SH5, they had no plans for capital works on the highway.
"While there are no current plans for capital works on the SH5, we continue to explore possible options to improve the highway in the future and remain open to feedback or ideas," Postings said.
"We have made significant investment in the region's state highway network over recent years, including the $36 million safety improvement programme for SH2 and over $20 million for other safety improvements throughout Hawke's Bay, which includes work on SH5.
"We have a programme of maintenance and renewal works for SH5, which is ongoing and will help ensure we keep the road safe for motorists."
Alexander writes in a Talking Point today that the solutions being touted by NZTA are not good enough.
"Stop trying to put Band-Aids on roads because funds are being diverted to big-ticket items.
"Sure, $600,000 has been spent on barriers, rumble strips and markings on SH5, but there's a corner as you head down the Titiokura hill toward Taupō that has had at least one fatal crash and a couple of injury crashes where cars have gone over a large drop. What "protects" people from going over? A white wooden fence.
Alexander said it felt like only the "bare basics" were being done on Hawke's Bay's state highways.
"Us little people out on the coal face, we may not be engineers, but we know the road.
"We see the near misses. The barrier strikes, the skid marks, the deaths. I don't want to be in the middle of another fatal this year, knowing that I have spoken out, but not heard."
Hawke's Bay road policing officer Matthew Broderick said NZ roads were unforgiving of mistakes, and SH5 was one of "many" such roads.
"People just need to use common sense when out there."
