By Felix Walton of RNZ
From truckers to cyclists, motorists are calling for the urgent filling of potholes on major roads throughout the country.
Masterton resident Vik Olliver said his car was damaged when he struck a pothole at 100km/h on State Highway 1 near Taupō last year.
“They weren’t marked or anything, there weren’t any speed limits enforced, and I ploughed into what appeared to be the biggest one. It took out one wheel. The total bill was about $4000,” he said.
“We were not the first, nor the last, car. There were 10 other vehicles requiring towing from that pothole.”
So many cars were damaged that by the time Olliver reached Taupō, the local mechanic had run out of spare parts.
His bill included tow truck fees, a rental car, and an overnight stay in Taupō while he waited for the parts to arrive.
Olliver said the NZ Transport Agency should take responsibility for damage caused by unmarked potholes.
“You’d have thought that if a road surface was excessively damaged and those potholes were very excessive, there would be some form of responsibility and insurance available to recompense people who were damaged by it.”
Far North district councillor Ann Court said Northland had the worst roads in the country.
She drove to Christchurch and back to compare her region’s roads with the rest of New Zealand.
“I think the state highway between Kawakawa and Whangārei is Third World,” she said.
“I did not experience that kind of network degradation anywhere until I got home to Northland. It beggars belief.”
Court said Northland roads owed their poor condition to a combination of geography, geology, weather and underfunding, plus three years of missed maintenance due to Covid lockdowns and cyclones.
“So we’ve got an accumulation of three years of damage to the network without the repair work that’s required. Coupled with that we have the most challenging network in the country — Waka Kotahi says it costs 1.8 times the national average [per kilometre] to maintain the network in Northland, compared to the rest of the country,” she said.
Whangārei District Mayor Vince Cocurullo said the biggest factor behind the spate of potholes was the weather.
“We had an extensive amount of rain last year, so the soil underneath the roads has become quite saturated. With the heavy weight of vehicles on top of it, that causes the pothole,” he said.
“One of the downsides about last year was the guys were repairing the potholes while it was still wet so they wouldn’t last as long. It’s a real frustration. Now is obviously the best time to fix those potholes so we’ve got contractors out there at the moment.”
A cycling advocate said potholes were a particular headache for cyclists.
Cycling Action Network project manager Patrick Morgan said a cyclist who ran into a pothole could lose control and be seriously injured.
“Every road user needs a road that’s fit for purpose, and people on bikes are particularly sensitive to imperfections and faults in the road because of the narrower tires,” Morgan said.
“It’s really important that councils do their job and look after the streets that we have.”
Meanwhile, truckers reported near misses as cars swerved between lanes to avoid potholes.
“If the cars are oncoming and they cross the centre line, and we’ve had cases of this happening, then you’ve got a head-on collision,” Transporting NZ chief executive Dom Kalasih said.
He said it was hard for truckers to react to erratic drivers.
“It’s almost impossible for a truck to slow down to a degree that the injury severity’s not going to be significant,” he said.
“Little guy hits big guy ... the little guy gets hurt.”
Freight companies paid fees based on the weight of their trucks, but Kalasih said that money was not going where it should.
“Some of that money, it goes to fund rail and other things that are not road related,” he said.
“The money that trucks are paying should go into fixing the roads.”
Transport Minister Simeon Brown had repeatedly declared his intention to fill New Zealand’s potholes.
Kalasih said his words were encouraging, but he wanted to see action.
“The government’s going to need to turn those thoughts into action and do that pronto.”
– RNZ