Robbie Robinson is pleased his street has now been permanently fixed.
Three years, seven complaints, 18 visits and at least 48 patches later, a potholed patch on small residential Mount Maunganui street has finally been “properly” resealed.
The 80-year-old said he had counted council contractors working on-site least 11 times, but their efforts on the 9m by 2m stretch were swiftly undone by rain or traffic. The result was “chunks half the size of a dinner plate”, he told the Bay of Plenty Times last month.
Now, information obtained through the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act shows Tauranga City Council contractors went to the site 18 times in the past two years, at an estimated cost of about $5700.
In 2022, contractors attended six times and filled 24 potholes, and in 2023 they attended 12 times and filled another 24 potholes. There were none in 2021.
Robinson regularly swept the road to prevent any damage and make it safer for schoolchildren walking to and from Arataki School across the road.
He said he simply wanted the road fixed “properly”, and spoke out after he said he was promised the road would be fixed in the school holidays - but that was two school holidays ago.
This week, Robinson said the road had since been completely transformed.
“They turned up with all of their gear... it’s made a big difference. It’s like a nice new piece of motorway,” he said.
“They did it really well.”
Robinson said he counted eight or nine trucks at one point during the operation.
He was pleased the chip seal had been replaced with smooth “hot mix” outside his home, and he expected this would be far more durable.
“It’s as good as an airport runway now,” he said.
“You can’t get a better finish than that.”
“It’s only taken two and a half years or so for things to happen,” he said in jest.
The council apologised for the state of the road last month, with general manager of infrastructure Nic Johansson telling the Bay of Plenty Times “permanent repairs” were planned over the summer once the school holidays began.
“We agree that the current state of the road isn’t ideal and apologise for the frustration and inconvenience it has caused the community.”
“The section of road has deteriorated over the last couple of years, which has been compounded by bad weather.”
An estimate of the total cost for the callouts to Kaimanawa St was $5700.
This section of Kaimanawa St in Mount Maunganui, has been transformed from a rough patchwork of potholes into a smooth surface like an "airport runway". Photo / Alex Cairns
Johansson previously said the council intended to chip-seal the street, but on Tuesday he clarified this applied to the wider street and surrounds, and the potholed area outside the school was always planned to be asphalt.
“We aim to provide this surfacing for areas directly outside public facilities such as schools and hospitals.”
He said other parts of the road and surrounding streets would be repaired using chip seal during the holidays next month.
Pothole patching costs
In response to the official information request, council democracy team leader Kath Norris said the council was unable to say exactly how much the repeated patch-up work at Kaimanawa St in the past two years cost.
This was because the crews carrying out the work were contacted under a day rate, she said.
“During a typical day, they may repair potholes on several sites and also perform other routine maintenance work.”
The council’s first expectation when addressing pothole complaints was to ensure the site was safe and operational as soon as possible, Norris said.
“The work is undertaken by a roading contractor, and the contract specifies response times to help ensure this happens, dependent on road classification.
The contractor was expected to repair the pothole to keep the road operational, but how this was achieved depended on factors such as the degree of damage, time of year and weather.
“It is normal practice to patch potholes as a strategy to keep the road operating until conditions and budget allow a permanent repair.”
Existing rates averaged out to $6.25 per square metre for chip seal and $45.76 per sq m for asphalt.
“It should be noted that within chip seal and asphalt, there can be different [sq m] rates where different surfacing thicknesses and materials are used.”
She said asphalt was generally about nine times more expensive than chip seal under the current contract.
The council’s budget for road resealing this financial year was $4.53 million.
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.
