Due to the amount of work involved, national firms tended to receive these contracts, but Rangitīkei was also looking into involving smaller, local companies.
“Most rural councils nowadays are also looking to be able to have scope within contracts so local contractors can be used, especially on low-volume roads,” Watson said.
He wanted the next contractor to bring the maintenance of the district’s roads to a usable standard, as he and the council were concerned about their condition.
“There are some roads that are difficult for us to use at times.”
This decline had been driven by a number of factors, the first of which was funding constraints from the government.
Environmental change was also a factor in the deterioration of the roads.
“Climate change is reality and we’re getting far more major climate occurrences, flooding [and] heavy rainfall,” he said.
These events were very damaging to the region’s road networks, and Watson said they were increasing in frequency.
“Whereas we tended to have 100-year events as 100-year events they now seem to be almost business as usual operating.”
Many of the district’s pine forests were also of harvesting age, resulting in more logging trucks on roads, leading to accelerated degradation.
At the same time, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Association would be conducting work on multiple sections of State Highway One in the region.
Chief among those is work north of Taihape between Goldfinch St and Abattoir Rd to replace the surface of the road and improve a drainage area.
Work would take place along about 1km where the road surface would be removed and replaced with new material before being resurfaced.
The work will take about seven weeks from October 2 under stop/go traffic control and to minimise disruption work will be carried out between 6pm and 6am.
Other upcoming work in the district included maintenance on underlying road structures north of Hunterville,from September 25 to September 29, on Wing’s Line in Marton from October 2 to October 20 and ongoing monitoring at Utiku, south of Taihape due to a slow slip under the road.
While the state highways were the responsibility of Waka Kotahi, Watson acknowledged the network in the district had been faced with challenges, with the slip at Utiku being the most recent.
“Understanding the cause of that and looking for options as to how Waka Kotahi repair that is a substantial project in its own right.”
He commended the agency for the quick responses to his queries and for increasing its Funding Assistance Rate with the council, meaning the agency funds more of the district’s local transport programmes than before.
“I accept the limitations they’re under but I also thank them for the increase in the [Funding] Assistance Rate.”
The council would likely be able to announce who will undertake the next roading contract at the end of the year.
Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.
