Repair work on roads in the Waikato District closed by the storms in April will start in earnest next week.
Roads still closed include Koheroa Rd (Mercer), Pioneer Road (Pokeno), Clarke and Denize Road (Pukekawa).
After an extensive period of road assessment throughout the district, Waikato District Council staff will undertake a work programme consisting of short term repairs to damaged roads, prioritising those roads mentioned above.
An overall funding package of just over $1 million, which covers immediate response work already carried out and short term repair work, is needed to complete the work.
Waikato District Council’s share of the costs will be to the tune of just under $500,000
An application for the balance of funding has been made to the NZ Transport Agency and that decision is due to be released in the coming days.
If, as expected, the funding application to the NZ Transport Agency is successful, Waikato District Alliance staff will start short term repair work on a priority basis from next week.
Work on major underslips on Koheroa Road is due to start in the week starting 29 May with the view of opening one lane up as soon as possible.
Pioneer Rd, which has been closed by a major underslip, will be tackled from next week (29 May – 2 June).
Wairamarama-Onewhero Rd is open but a lot of repair work needs to be done to combat slip and drop-out damage. Work is scheduled to start there next week (29 May – 2 June).
Work to replace the collapsed culvert on Clarke and Denize Rd is programmed to start on 5 June.
Kellyville Rd in Mercer is partially open but repair work is needed on underslip damage. That work is due to start in mid-June.
And work on slumps in the road surface on Highway 22 is due to start in either June or July – although this is yet to be confirmed.
At this stage it is impractical to put re-opening dates on all roads that are closed. As the projects progress, Council will provide regular updates as to when these roads will open again.
There are a number of other roads in the district affected by last month’s bad weather that have been included on the work programme – they will be dealt with on a priority basis.
General Manager Service Delivery Tim Harty says he appreciates the public’s patience regarding closed and partially open roads following the storms.
“The staff have been working really hard assessing damage and cleaning up during and after the storms,” he says.
“Once the required funding is secured we can get into the repair work straight away and open those closed roads again.
“While we would love to put a date on that, potential weather and ground conditions means we can’t do that. As soon as we know, our community will know.”
