Complaints to NZTA increase about Napier-Taupō road during past five years

Wednesday, 19 August 2020

Potholes are the reasons for most repair work on State Highway 5 (Napier-Taupō road).

In four years complaints to the New Zealand Transport Agency about the state of the Napier-Taupō road (State Highway 5) have more than tripled.

The numbers, released to Stuff under the Official Information Act, show that in 2015 the NZTA received four complaints relating to an expansion joint failure on a bridge, uneven surface, loose seal and the road condition (sealing work).

A heat map showing the location of serious crashes on the Napier-Taupo Rd (State Highway 5)

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The New Zealand Transport Agency is carrying out a technical assessment on the current speed limits on State Highway 5.

In 2019 the complaints had jumped to 19, with 13 related to potholes, two to tar bleed, two due to a ‘’slippery road’', one for bent marker posts and another relating to sealing work.

It carried out a total of 124 repairs to potholes on SH5 in the 2015-2016 year. But in 2017-2018, 1138 pothole repairs were made.

State Highway 5 has seen eight deaths in less than 12 months.

Three complaints about potholes were made to the NZTA in 2016, 10 in 2017 and 13 last year. This year it has already received 15 pothole complaints.

So far, 542 repairs have been made to potholes between 2019 and this year. In the previous year there were 585 repairs.

All up, the NZTA had made 2992 repairs to potholes on the road during the past five years.

Crash-damage repairs had reduced during the past five years, with 29 in 2015-2016, 10 in 2018-2019 and one during 2019-2020.

NZTA senior manager for systems management Wayne Oldfield said contractors who carried out repair works were required to record all maintenance activities they completed, regardless of severity.

“During the winter season it is not uncommon for one pothole to be temporarily filled several times to ensure it does not degrade further until warmer/drier weather allows the repair to be permanently fixed,” he said.

Oldfield said NZTA records didn’t differentiate between temporary or permanent repairs to potholes and the number of repairs made did not accurately reflect the total number of potholes that appeared on SH5.

The road has seen eight deaths in less than 12 months with two recent (separate) crashes in Te Pōhue which resulted in critical injuries.

Regional transport systems manager Oliver Postings said NZTA would be undertaking a technical assessment on the current speed limits for State Highway 5.

It would take into account crash history, average vehicle speeds, volume of travelling vehicles and development of surrounding areas, which would help NZTA determine if changing the speed limits was the best.

In the coming months NZTA would also support a road safety campaign alongside police and Roadsafe Hawke’s Bay to create more driver awareness about safer speeds and driving to the conditions on SH5 and on other roads in the region, Postings said.