Premium Debate: New Zealand’s state highway pothole plague pitiful - subscribers

A pothole on Welcome Bay Rd, Tauranga. Photo / Alex Cairns

More than 211,000 potholes have been reported on New Zealand state highways over the past five years - with a quarter of them being in 2022. The overwhelming majority were in Waikato, ahead of Canterbury, Northland, Taranaki, Gisborne and Bay of Plenty. In recent months, motorists countrywide have complained about the state of the roads with some saying the situation “won’t change anytime soon”.

Read the full story here: New Zealand state highway pothole plague revealed: The regions with most potholes since 2018

The story had a big response from Premium subscribers. Here are more of their comments.

Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz or dailypost.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.

Drove from Auckland to Tauranga and back this weekend, dodging serious potholes, especially on the Kaimai Ranges. Meanwhile, a local road has diversions in place while a pedestrian crossing which has been used for decades without issue has a ‘’hump”’ installed.

Glenn R

When visiting some of our neighbouring poorer island countries, I recall pitying the terrible state of their roads.

Now that is us.

Anthony W

I wonder if all the road-widening (extending shoulder) is funded from the road maintenance fund? In the Eastern BoP on SH2 they are widening the shoulder of the roads but not fixing the potholes.

Kevin C

Having driven from Auckland to Tauranga return this weekend via two different routes, I was shocked at the state of the roads. I started counting the potholes but gave up. Definitely wouldn’t drive at night - I’d probably crash and end up in a ditch or pothole!

Lou B

I don’t know what’s the more shocking.

The massive deterioration of our once good roads, or the fact that we’re all so accepting that they are indeed dire and hence warrant a news story to compare who’s got the worst.

Massive road taxes have been paid by all of us, through a multitude of taxes for the maintenance of the roading network, so where has it gone?

We’re expected, by law, to keep our vehicles in a safe and fit-for-purpose state, so why can our Government not live up to our expectation to deliver “fit-for-purpose” roads?

Previous governments don’t seem to have a problem doing this.

David M

Something has changed. Is it the amount of traffic, weight and frequency of trucks, the method of counting potholes or just the weather?

Waikato may have the greatest number of potholes but how does that relate to traffic volumes or the number of kilometres of highway? What role does the way roads are sealed play in pothole formation? These are all things not covered in this article. Auckland has low numbers of potholes but also a low amount of state highway kilometres, and heavy traffic volumes compared to other regions. Raw data isn’t much use to compare one region against another.

Kirstie P

Many BoP highways are currently unsafe due to the volume of potholes. Last week driving from Rotorua to Tauranga, we were counting our lucky stars it was daylight... long stretches of the highway in disrepair with no warning signage in place for night drivers.

No need to focus on pipe-dream cycle lanes... further significant periods of rainfall and we will be needing to reinstate the horse and cart!

Mrs T