Road works: Delays likely on Kiwi road-trip as road works due to start at peak holiday time

Motorists should plan ahead if they don't want stop signs to feature heavily in their summer road trip. Photo / Stephen Parker

Road cones and stop signs could feature heavily in the Kiwi road trip this summer, as bad weather has forced delays of much-needed repairs.

Contractors for Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency start back working on the roads on January 4 - a peak time for holidaymakers.

Three times the average rainfall in November delayed much-needed work and also caused additional damage to newly repaired roads said Rob Campbell, regional manager of maintenance and operations at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

Campbell said work would start in early 2023 when contractors returned to the job after the Christmas holidays.

This coincides with a time when many New Zealanders are looking to travel for their summer holidays.

“These two factors will put conflicting demands on the state highway network, and the best way to resolve this is to work together,” Campbell said.

“All contractors are working hard to plan their work across the remaining months to ensure we minimise disruption as much as possible.

“We ask that road users do their part by planning their journeys, and respecting road crews at our worksites around the country.”

Campbell blamed the delays on heavy rain through November.

“The weather has forced us to pause work on a number of road reconstruction sites as we lead up to the Christmas break.

“These sites will have a temporary seal put in place to ensure the site is passable over the two weeks crews are off-site,” says Campbell.

Problem areas that needed addressing included:

• Tarseal lifting on SH1, Dome Valley
• Tarseal bleed on SH3 in Taranaki between Inglewood and Midhurst
• Flushing on Transmission Gully

There would also be more local repairs including around the popular seaside holiday towns of Coromandel.

Repairs would start after floodwaters washed away chip from the surface of SH25 (north of Tairua River Bridge) from an area which had just been sealed a few days earlier.

Drivers were forced to pull over on SH1 by Dome Valley when seal lifted from the road onto tyres. Photo / Supplied

Waka Kotahi said the exceptionally wet winter and rain continuing into spring and summer had also damaged new road surfaces.

This was evident on State Highway 1 near Dome Valley in early December when bitumen melted and stuck to the tyres of cars.

Motorists using the busy highway were forced to pull over and scrape thick layers of tarseal off their tyres with anything they could find - including tree branches.

Roading contractor Fulton Hogan apologised for the inconvenience and confirmed 58 people had been in contact claiming compensation after chip seal had caused damage to vehicles.

The road was repaired but just a week later peeled again with the same issue.

Fulton Hogan apologised to motorists and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and said the recent resealing work near Frogpool Farm in Dome Valley fell “short of expectations”.