Is this odd only to me?

[BLACK DORIS 9]

I grew up in Taumarunui before moving to Welly to study(music). Last month I was on the zmfm winery tour and just last w'end was in Taranaki for Womad (took a rental, Apex - kiwi owned, good service, cheap etc etc).

Is practically every town and city in nz getting roadworks done!!??? And what's with all the dam trucks on the roads!!

I remember when the main trunk line was given an overhaul sometime in the late 80's and most of the route was electric.

If petrol is going up in price and we're just out of a recession, why are we spending money on road works and putting more trucks (fossil fuels) on the road and letting the rail service go pear shaped (i.e. carbon footprint blah blah blah).

Meanwhile, care givers, teachers etc are being paid shite.

Doesn't make much sense to me...

[Braeden320 0]

Seems to be the time of year for roadworks

Womad was awesome, Went Saturday

[RvT 9]

The issue with a recession is that it takes time for things to roll out. The common practice is when things are going well, the private sector provides the "work" for mainstream workers. When the private sector goes thru a recession, it is usually the government who instigates larger spending and in turn creates work.

The problem is that once the government opens the tap to allow more roading to be done, it starts a process of planning, tendering and finally contracts happen and we the public see the results, sometimes 18 months after the taps are opened.

Another point is that most roading funding happens in a given year and as we get close to 31 March, most councils have to spend their budget for the year or they may loose it the following year. There will always be heavier spending on roading in Feb / March of every year.

With regards to sectors being paid "Shite", the same can be said about many other jobs that ordinary Kiwis are paid. As a business owner, I am more pissed that we have to pay young people the same rates of pay as older, more experienced workers and yet we get a poorer work ethic out of 18 year olds than 35 year olds. There will be exceptions to this but this is a reality. I have worked in countries where there is no government welfare and money is non existant yet they survive.

Why does everything in society come back to money ??? Get over it and start living !!!

[tire 10]

+1 on the road works. Were too many on both of the ways to Taupo last weekend.

[Jamez 2147483647]

I don't really care how many roadworks there are. As long as the roads are getting better, i'm happy.

+1 on the teachers thing tho. My sister is becoming a primary school teacher in Australia and her starting wage is more than the top wage of a primary school teacher here in NZ.

Don't really care about the petrol price. The only way that it can be made cheaper is by taking the governments tax's of it, that in turn leaves less money for the roads and other things......

Edited March 15, 2010 by Jamez

[Docile 64]

small economy -> small incomes.

[antony 0]

Cant seal a road in the winter, so they will all be trying to get it done now.

[Wom 0]

small economy -> small incomes.

also cost of living is lower here than Aussie

[Guest Simon*]

Roadworks = everywhere = the suck! Maybe a ploy to push us off the roads altogether!!

But nevermind that Rio, checkit! You're famous bro!

You met Rakai? He's a real good bugger

[bravo 35]

I don't really care how many roadworks there are. As long as the roads are getting better, i'm happy.

I'd be happy if they actually were. Problem is, most of the roadworks happening in the regions is patching. Same old, cheap, flexible pavements being rolled out over poor subgrade.

I spoke to someone from Downer Edi Works the other day. NZTA asked them how much to "fix" the statehighway network in Northland? They told them. NZTA came back and said - well you'll never get that, so heres $xmillion (about 20% of the initial figure). So all they are able to do is yet another year of patches and chipseal.

Oh, and you want to know why sometimes you see them resealing a stretch of road that looks fine that you're sure they sealed a year or so ago???

Its because the maintenance period of the road is supposed to be, say, 5 years. To obtain this period they might need to do 3-4 coats of seal. But, 2 will do to make the road usable. The budget is so stretched, they do 2 now, wait a year and get a bit of wear out of it, and then come back and do the other 2 coats a year later getting essentially 6 years out of 5 years worth of seal.

We are woefully under-funded. But it would help if the roading contractors were more efficient, and had better workmanship. I see some terrible preparation and sealing jobs by Northland contractors. No wonder the roads don't last. We do have really really bad clays up here that make building roads hard, but it's no excuse for some of the sh*t workmanship.

[Hartage 0]

And end of financial year comming up fast so they all want to spend the remains of their budget so that they get the same or more next year.

So many of the local streets around town are getting a reseal as well as the main roads.

[Guest Ari Gold]

I remember when the main trunk line was given an overhaul sometime in the late 80's and most of the route was electric.

Trains are badass.

That's pretty much all I've got to add.

[Driftit 2078]

They recently resealed the road outside my house. It was an older road with no potholes, loose stones and was quite quiet. Now it has crap tons of loose stones as they never swept it after just dumping some tar and metal on top of the existing road. The tar took weeks to set and everyones car got coated in it. And now the road is noisey as sh*t! What a complete waste of money.

[bravo 35]

This is what I mean. It's important to sweep it after its bedded in to prevent extra wear. Laziness.

[kingkarl 136]

small economy -> small incomes.

China? India? Russia?

[BLACK DORIS 9]

Nice to see other people are wondering what the hells going on!

I guess my point re fuel and more trucks on the road is why would you put more gas guzzling transport on the roads when fuel cost is so high? And you already have an efficient low carbon option that's been around for about 20 odd years! Someone's making/taking a good amount of cash out of nz'ers AND taking the piss at the same time... i.e. increasing costs at the pump, rego's etc.

Edited March 16, 2010 by BLACK DORIS

[BLACK DORIS 9]

+1 on the road works. Were too many on both of the ways to Taupo last weekend.

Hey bro, have you ever taken the western access route and bypass Taupo? Less windy roads (no 15km corners etc), less traffic and no trucks!! haha.

Edited March 16, 2010 by BLACK DORIS

[BLACK DORIS 9]

Roadworks = everywhere = the suck! Maybe a ploy to push us off the roads altogether!!

You met Rakai? He's a real good bugger

Yes, that's his tee design! Only just met but he's good people alright.

[Wom 0]

... But it would help if the roading contractors were more efficient, and had better workmanship. I see some terrible preparation and sealing jobs by Northland contractors. No wonder the roads don't last. We do have really really bad clays up here that make building roads hard, but it's no excuse for some of the sh*t workmanship.

you should see what they did to River Road (motorway by Upper Hutt)

they took an ok motorway and turned it to rubbish

there's one part of it where there's huge groove in the road that makes the whole side of my car dip right down, felt quite weird the first time I went through it but used to it now lol

the patchwork they've done on the rest of it is just shocking

it's actually got to the stage where you need to start fighting with the car to keep it on the road

improvements?

blah, more like dis-improvements (if there is such a word?)

[tire 10]

Hey bro, have you ever taken the western access route and bypass Taupo? Less windy roads (no 15km corners etc), less traffic and no trucks!! haha.

Nope because Taupo was my destination on aforementioned road work heavy trip . Sounds good though, SH4 to Raetihi thenacross to SH1 is it?

[BLACK DORIS 9]

Nope because Taupo was my destination on aforementioned road work heavy trip . Sounds good though, SH4 to Raetihi thenacross to SH1 is it?

Ahh, got ya. Just checked google maps. So if your heading down SH1 south you turn off at either Whakamaru dam or Atiamuri (little trickier re getting onto SH 32). Get onto SH32 and follow to the end where you'll come out just north of Turangi (Kuratau junction). Head to Turangi and you'll be back on SH1 and into the dessert rd. Some nice tight corners etc...

[elmarco 56]

Cant seal a road in the winter, so they will all be trying to get it done now.

Yep - summer is the main construction season, among the many other reasons given. You have to maintain your roads and the "use it or lose it" budget mentality ensures a real rush at this time of year....

[Lucan 196]

Ahh, got ya. Just checked google maps. So if your heading down SH1 south you turn off at either Whakamaru dam or Atiamuri (little trickier re getting onto SH 32). Get onto SH32 and follow to the end where you'll come out just north of Turangi (Kuratau junction). Head to Turangi and you'll be back on SH1 and into the dessert rd. Some nice tight corners etc...

I took the western route around Taupo on my trip to welly the other week, ridiculous amount of road works that way.

Worse than SH1 anyway...all the 30km zones with loose gravel