Signs on Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd Brynderwyn detour believed to have been vandalised

National Road Carriers Association vice chairman Ian Newey said truckies are doing their best. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Signs advising drivers of vital detour routes while the Brynderwyns are closed in Northland are being vandalised as frustrated motorists and residents butt heads.

The National Road Carriers Association is urging Northlanders to “get behind the call for better roading infrastructure of our state highway network” and not take their frustrations out on each other.

The wife of a truck driver, who didn’t want to be named, believed residents took down detour signs which mean truck drivers could miss the turnoff and get lost.

The woman said her husband drove past a damaged sign just before the turnoff into Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd at the Mangapai end on Wednesday at 3am.

The sign had been knocked over, she said.

“I understand they [residents] don’t want trucks on their road, but at the end of the day, those signs are there for a purpose.

“ ... How do they think they’re going to get their supermarket food on the shelves?”

The woman said the lack of signage would impact everybody travelling that way, not just trucks.

“If you don’t normally travel those roads you don’t know.”

The first day of the 10-week SH1 closure on Monday was chaos as a logging truck crashed and rolled on the Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd detour route, where trucks, and trucks with trailers up to 50 tonnes, are allowed.

The logging truck crashed around midday blocking both lanes of the detour route for nearly five hours.

Police don’t yet know the cause of the logging truck crash.

It was followed by a fatal crash on SH1 near Mata, south of Whangārei which closed the highway in both directions for over two hours.

Some residents complained to the Advocate about the truck noise on Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd, and many more have taken to social media to vent their frustrations, saying all trucks should keep to the SH12 and 14 detour route through Dargaville not just HPMV (high productivity motor vehicles).

Light vehicles can go via Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd or through Waipu Cove and Mangawhai.

The closure of the Brynderwyns began at midnight on Sunday so repairs can be carried out to repair last year’s storm damage.

The work isn’t expected to be finished until mid May though the Brynderwyns will open temporarily for six days over Easter.

National Road Carriers Association vice-chairman Ian Newey said truckies are “doing their best”.

What is needed is a four-lane highway bypassing the Brynderwyn hills following decades of Government neglect, he said.

NZTA is urging road users to share the road with care, drive to the conditions and allow extra time for their journey. Photo / Michael Cunningham

“We are here as a region because of a lack of infrastructure put into state highways and roading for the last however many decades.

“This is a result of under-investment in Northland.

“It’s not only the truckies suffering it’s everyone in some way.”

Newey said the Brynderwyns had been closed numerous times in the past going back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, and yet nothing had been done.

“They’ve been closed so many times since Cyclone Bola in 1988 when the Brynderwyns washed out.

“We’ve just ignored it, that’s the root cause of this.

“We need the community in Northland to get behind the call for better roading infrastructure of our state highway network and our council roads as well, because it’s not good enough.”

A NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi spokeswoman said its contractor teams are “proactively inspecting the three official detour routes every day and are currently inspecting Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd”.

“As part of this proactive monitoring, a sign was found knocked over on the Cove Rd route, but this has already been reinstated.”

The wife of a truck driver says signs have been pushed over by residents opposed to trucks using their road as a detour route. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The spokeswoman said queries have come from locals and other road users regarding what types of vehicles can use Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd.

“The restrictions set by Kaipara District Council and Whangarei District Council on this road restrict HPMV (high productivity motor vehicles) but allow trucks and trucks with trailers up to 50 tonnes to use this detour.”

Transport Minister Simeon Brown said full state highway closures are never done lightly.

“We know they are incredibly disruptive and frustrating for local communities, businesses, drivers, and freight vehicles.

“But this repair work is critical to ensure the corridor is resilient to future events in the short to medium-term, while the Government prioritises planning for the long-term future alternative route in line with the National-NZ First Coalition agreement.”

Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering roading, lifestyle, business, and animal welfare issues.