Hamilton City Council’s summer road resealing programme starts on January 9

Resealing is an essential part of maintaining safe connections throughout the city. Photo / Hamilton City Council

The New Year brings new road surfaces in some parts of Hamilton as the city council begins its summer resealing programme.

While most construction activity shuts down during the holiday break, the council will spend a few weeks resealing 50 roads across Hamilton, requiring warm, dry weather for the best results.

City Transportation Unit director, Gordon Naidoo, said the summer resealing programme is an essential part of keeping roads in a safe condition.

“We reseal roads when their surfaces start to lose their waterproofing and grip qualities. You need a good surface grip on the road so cars keep their traction and don’t slide around. The road needs to be waterproof too otherwise it starts to break down with age and that means potholes,” said Naidoo.

He says it’s not always apparent to people when a road is ready to be resealed.

“You might think it looks fine, but if we’re resealing your road it means we’ve noticed issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. It costs a lot less to do a reseal before bigger problems show up.”

The council monitors the city’s roads throughout the year. Minor repairs are done from October to December before reseals start.

“If there are any structural problems, we would like to fix them now so we can hit the ground running with the reseals in January. It’s a bit like prepping the surface of your house before you paint it and means we spend less time in each street over the summer,” said Naidoo.

He says that resealing protects and extends the life of a road.

“No matter how you’re travelling, the road needs to be in good condition. Safe travel is one of the big focuses of the council’s Access Hamilton: Ara Kootuitui Kirikiriroa transport strategy and resealing is an essential part of maintaining safe connections throughout the city.”

The council has a target of zero deaths on Hamilton roads, in line with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Road to Zero strategy.

Due to start on January 9 the reseal programme will cost $5.7 million, with 51 per cent funded by Waka Kotahi through its maintenance and renewal programme.

Find out more on the full reseal programme here.