'It took out a wheel': Calls to fix SH1 potholes 'pronto'

From truckers to cyclists, motorists are calling for the urgent filling of potholes on major roads around 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 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.

'A real frustration'

Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo said the biggest factor behind the current 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," he 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."

Patience needed

Waka Kotahi has a $500 million road maintenance programme underway this summer.

Senior manager for maintenance and operations Wayne Oldfield said it was about 20 percent bigger than previous years, and will focus on chips, sealing asphalt works and replacing layers of the road.

Oldfield said drivers should prepare for more delays due to roadworks.

"Our works are predominantly carried out through those summer months, which is at the same time when New Zealanders like to get out and visit the great country that we have," he told Morning Report.

"So they will come across roadworks throughout the country. We ask that everyone's nice and patient… the work we do is really important in maintaining the assets. So we ask the customers, travellers to plan ahead, look out for the roadworks, look out for the speed limit signs and just just take your time through the roadwork sites and get your destinations nice and safe."

Oldfield said work was prioritised based on need, but complicated this year by delays to planned work.

"What we have seen - and particularly through last year with the cyclones through the central North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, parts of Coromandel and Northland of course - that some of the planned works weren't able to be delivered. So we've rolled those works into this construction season.

"So those regions we just talked about there which have been impacted will see a larger increase in works due to our inability to carry out those works because of the inclement weather, which were those storms and cyclones."

Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the work this summer would not just involve patching up damage, but future-proofing the transport network from future weather events.

"We have so much to do in our region. You will be aware that last year the majority of the year was wet, so a lot of work [was] deferred, and then on top of that, there's so much damage to our roading network," she told Morning Report.

Luckily, she said, her region had a "good working relationship with Waka Kotahi", a necessity considering their isolation from the rest of the country.

"I think if you come and visit Tairāwhiti, you will see what we have to deal with. And this is what I said - we have done so much already just to connect people again. There are still people who are not connected - we still have bridges that are gone. So the work that has been done up to now has been absolutely essential to connect.

"But now moving forward, we do need to have that longer lens because I do not want us to fix-up or close our region every time we have an event in Tairāwhiti - that is not sustainable and we deserve better."