A local contractor is calling for more funding for the maintenance of New Zealand's roads after a nightmare weekend for some Auckland drivers.
Some motorists driving along the stretch of State Highway 1 through Dome Valley were forced to pull over after peeling tar became stuck to their tyres.
Pictures shared online show one motorist with a stick in hand, hacking away at the tar stuck to his rear tyre.
It comes after official information from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) showed 32 percent of roading surface area is overdue for renewal. That is based primarily on the design life given to the surface at the time of construction or the intended lifespan expected based on traffic volume and mix.
But transport agency stresses a road's design life is just an estimate. It also doesn't mean it will start crumbling once it's surpassed.
Civil Contractors New Zealand technical manager Stacy Goldsworthy told AM on Tuesday more funding for the maintenance of our roads is needed.
"We've got a big network, we've got a lot of heavies, more vehicles are coming into the country and getting onto that network," Goldsworthy told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
"So there's only so much money to go around, so the real fundamental cause is a lack of funding and that's a real central government position that needs to be reviewed at that level."
Even though the Government has increased funding for New Zealand's roads, Goldsworthy said more is needed to keep up with inflation and the increased weight on the roads.
"There has been an increase in the budget for maintenance, but with supply chain costs, you've got increases in the cost of bitumen just due to the oil price [and] a lot of the money that has been allocated is just getting sucked up," he said.
Goldsworthy said. there are several risk factors that cause more potholes and the roads to deteriorate in New Zealand.
"Typically, this is a winter or spring phenomenon that we see. During the summer and up here in Auckland and other parts of the country, when we get into a drought, the networks are fairly stable," he said.
"But when we start to get a lot of water that gets into the pavement from the top and it comes in from the side, you get an increase in water tables."
This leads to instability in our roads as a lot of chip seals and some asphalts become fairly leaky, Goldsworthy said.
"They do leak water in and then once that water is contained in there and then you're loading it with heavy trucks, then it's only got one way to go and that's up and with that brings the pavement," Goldsworthy explained.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said the Government has invested "significantly" in road maintenance and recovery from extreme events.
"Through our record-breaking investment in infrastructure, we are investing close to $7 billion in local road and state highway maintenance as part of the NLTP 21-24 [National Land Transport Programme], which will see around 7000 lane kilometres of state highway and 18,000 lane kilometres of local roads renewed," Wood told Newshub in November.
"[The] current situation is a result of the flat lining of road maintenance spending under the previous National Government. Since coming into government, we have boosted it by nearly 50 percent to help bring our roads back up to scratch."
He added that heavy rain and weather events also make repairs challenging, both on state highways and local roads.
"Rain can cause temporary fills to blow out, while also creating new potholes and making existing potholes larger," Wood said.
Watch the full interview with Stacy Goldsworthy above.
