'Another smack' for Coromandel caused by SH25A closure leads to calls for action

Tuesday, 17 January 2023

SH25A was closed due to cracks in the road, and will soon open but under stop-go management in daylight hours.

Thames Coromandel’s mayor is calling on the government to help fix the region’s battered infrastructure after large cracks closed the main road between Kōpū and Hikuai.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said they made the decision to close SH25A road on Monday after cracks were identified and there was potential risk of them worsening overnight.

In an update since, Thames Coromandel District Council said Waka Kotahi planned to reopen SH25A under stop-go management from 7am to 7pm from Wednesday.

Waka Kotahi/NZTA Regional Manager for Maintenance and Operations, Rob Campbell said the cracks were a remnant of Cyclone Hale, which caused flooding and numerous slips across the Coromandel Peninsula

* Cliff 'likely' to collapse on Thames coast road in wake of Cyclone Hale

* Slips temporarily close State Highway 1 south of Taupō

“As there are numerous cracks we need to understand what is happening before we allow road users through this area.

In periods when SH25A is closed, road users have been directed towards alternative routes on SH2 through the Karangahake Gorge or SH 25 around the Coromandel Peninsula to travel to/from summer hotspots such as Whitianga and Whangamatā.

The alternative routes added at least half an hour to travel times.

State Highway 25A is one of the major routes to Coromandel's holiday hotspots.

Thames Coromandel District Council (TCDC) Mayor Len Salt said the closure had been the second in weeks and was the result of unprecedented recent rainfall.

Salt says that the road closure will have a detrimental impact on the region’s businesses and has written to the Minister of Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to that effect.

“They’ve had two years of Covid and are just starting to get back on their feet. We’ve had ten days over summer and the impact on our local businesses has been pretty severe… Just when we think we can see light at the end of the tunnel, we get another smack.”

Local businesses and the community were bearing the brunt of Monday’s closure which had halted invaluable freight services, customer traffic while extending travel times.

Prescott’s garage was directly on the intersection of SH25 and Hikuai Settlement.

“It’s worse than a pain in the ass…fuel wise, shop wise we depend on that road,” owner Bill Prescott said.

“It changes our whole business…basically we don’t get a daily freight service.”

For the district's only airline service running between Auckland and Whitianga, the impact of the weather was a mixed bag.

Cyclone Hale had initially prevented flying on Barrier Air’s grass runway and meant fewer customers, CEO Grant Bacon said.

But the temporary closure of SH25A had since boosted bookings from “quite empty at the start of the week” to almost sold out as people tried to leave the area now that it had cleared up.

“It’s a short 22-minute flight to Auckland from Whitianga,” he said.

“With all the bad weather lately it certainly impacted operations…it’s been unusually tough.”

Prescott said he was one of the workers who constructed the SH25A road decades ago and believed the crux of the issue was that “it’s been neglected for about 30 years”.

“It’s maintenance related, absolutely no maintenance when it comes to cleaning, culverts, and the roadside scrub and trees that I presume have gone in and blocked up the culverts and let the water build up and wash out underneath the road.

The road had since become a sore thumb for the area and “most of the local customers learn to live with it,” he said.

“Waka Kotahi NZTA I think it’s the wrong organisation to be running roading…it’s a hell of a mess..that’s why all the potholes are forming it’s been totally mismanaged.”

Coromandel MP Scott Simpson said the highway was challenging at the best of times “and if there is no maintenance and ongoing improvement then we are likely to see further closures and interruption in years ahead”.

In the meantime, the council said the cracks across the highway were being “closely monitored” and it could close at any time if it became unsafe.

“At this stage there is no indication when these travel restrictions on the highway will be lifted.”