Only 8% of our roads being repaired this Xmas

[Driftit 2093]

So good news.  Only 80% of the sh*t jobs they did last year need repairing this year.....

You should see the roads in the Wairarapa already.  Only after a few hot weekends many of the roads are just bleeding tar.
The logging trucks have absolutely rooted the roads that have had fresh chip dumped on them out toward castle point.

I am glad that muppet Twyford is gone.  But I bet it is just "Here's the new boss, same as the old boss".

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/433287/motorists-should-expect-delays-travelling-to-holiday-hotspots-this-summer

[lord_jagganath 421]

Was in Henderson Sunday, Lincoln Road made me tramline, thanks to the melt and displaced sand.

[KwS 2429]

I went on the new CHCH Northern Motorway twice when I was down there last week. Once two days after it opened... fresh seal but all well stuck down, and a nice smooth surface. The second time about 5 days later, and the tar was starting to bleed, stones were already flying around (apparently broken windscreens are on the rise in that area now) and it wasn't looking good. I still cannot understand how after all these years of making roads, and the advancement in technology, we still suck so much at building them. We have got to stop paying the lowest bidder, it makes no sense.

[Jacko 2158]

We've been giving contracts to lowest price tenders for decades now, its so broken. We get sh*t products that arent on time, companies go under trying to meet contracts that are impossible to do (but they got the job) and people lose their jobs. $50 a couple of the big contractors in NZ collapse in the next 6 months, or withdraw from NZ completely.. in 10 years time the only ones available to do it will be Chinese. 

[balancerider 778]

Chipseal on high traffic roads seems like a false economy (especially when you need to redo it in 12 months) but even tarmac is hard to get right judging by the Kapiti expressway...

[jom 98]

The M25 around London was started in 1975, and at that time they used concrete as the road surface. Its still there after 45 years.

[NZ BMW 368]

4 hours ago, jom said:

The M25 around London was started in 1975, and at that time they used concrete as the road surface. Its still there after 45 years.

Same in the US in the warmer states. They are bloody noisy but the roads will likely outlive all of us! 

[Olaf 3341]

I drove SH2 to Napier, and SH50/SH2 back to Welly after xmas.  Apalled at the state of the roads, I've not seem them in that state of disrepair in more than 30 years!  Crumbling small quick-and-dirty patches, breaking surfaces, drops/compactions... I guess the govt is spending elsewhere?

[gjm 3258]

2 hours ago, Olaf said:

... small quick-and-dirty patches, breaking surfaces, drops/compactions... I guess the govt is spending elsewhere?

The spending is there. (AFAIK) 

The quality of the delivered product is not. 

[balancerider 778]

A certain Hawkes Bay based roading outfit makes that quite unsurprising...

[Driftit 2093]

22 hours ago, NZ BMW said:

Same in the US in the warmer states. They are bloody noisy but the roads will likely outlive all of us! 

I miss the highways in the US so much.  Smooth.  Straight.  Quiet.

Drove from DC to Austin, TX (25hrs of driving) in my E46 and I only stopped because I got bored at night time.  I just drove to Wellington from Masterton and back and I feel beat.  See below.

Forced to go through small towns x 3 at 50kph
Chip seal nearly the entire way which is brutal noisy
Followed a truck and a horse float up the Remutaka's at 20-30kph
Windy shitty blind corners
Single lane the entire way to Wellington means passing is a waste of time
The motorway in Wellington has f**king traffic lights in the middle of it.  In multiple locations....Utter madness.
 

[NZ BMW 368]

8 minutes ago, Driftit said:

I miss the highways in the US so much.  Smooth.  Straight.  Quiet.

Drove from DC to Austin, TX (25hrs of driving) in my E46 and I only stopped because I got bored at night time.  I just drove to Wellington from Masterton and back and I feel beat.  See below.

Forced to go through small towns x 3 at 50kph
Chip seal nearly the entire way which is brutal noisy
Followed a truck and a horse float up the Remutaka's at 20-30kph
Windy shitty blind corners
Single lane the entire way to Wellington means passing is a waste of time
The motorway in Wellington has f**king traffic lights in the middle of it.  In multiple locations....Utter madness.
 

Yup. I regularly drive 3-8 hours in the US and never feel tired. Easy driving. I spent years going up and down the 99 and the 5 in California for work. 

Although, some states are a lot better than others. Ohio has amazing roads, Michigan is terrible. 

This is why Americans can’t understand why we fly between Auckland and Wellington. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by NZ BMW

[Driftit 2093]

22 minutes ago, NZ BMW said:

Yup. I regularly drive 3-8 hours in the US and never feel tired. Easy driving. I spent years going up and down the 99 and the 5 in California for work. 

Although, some states are a lot better than others. Ohio has amazing roads, Michigan is terrible. 

This is why Americans can’t understand why we fly between Auckland and Wellington. 

Yeah I would never fly that distance in the US.  We had a rule that if the drive was less than 8 hours on a normal weekend we would drive.

DC to Detroit takes the same amount of time as Auckland to Wellington.  But is 230kms further.  And that is on roads that are not that straight and through the Blue ridge mountains.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Driftit

[Olaf 3341]

11 hours ago, gjm said:

The spending is there. (AFAIK) 

The quality of the delivered product is not. 

I have to disagree.  20 or 30 years ago they weren't doing 30x30cm patches on roads, they were doing half a lane-width and trying to fix the substrate, so at least a temporary repair would give 3-4 months safe service.  There is no evidence of this kind of repair being done poorly.  If it is a question of quality workmanship, it's down to contract management - something a quality commercial procurement department will resolve.

Honestly, I saw better roading in Ireland and Mexico in the 90's than I'm seeing here these days.

[KwS 2429]

Spotted a good patch on a road the other day. I swear it looked like someone had dropped a lump of hotmix in the hole and then stomped it down by foot. it didnt fill the hole, or touch all the edges. B+ Will fail again soon.

[gjm 3258]

The issues are twofold.

SH2, SH51, SH50 (etc including SH1) are maintained and managed by NZTA. NZTA are useless - they fail at planning, they fail at implementation, they fail at contract management. They seem to rely on others for quality control.
These are the guys who bought a 4-lane wide stretch of land through Hawke's Bay, past Napier, then had a single carriageway road built. In the centre of that strip of land, so any plans to expand will disrupt traffic in both directions. Why not build to one side? There's no answer to that, suggesting it was purely and simply a cock-up.
They then decided that the road they'd had built was unsafe, so they disrupted traffic for months which wire ropes were installed down the centre. And in some places, down the sides.

Regional roads are managed by District Councils, and there's no single source of funding, no overall control, no single contract management operation. It's done district by district (not even region by region). Downer seem to own many subsidiaries who too often deliver a sub-standard service on regional roads.

This isn't a criticism of those working on the roads although I've seen some individuals who are pretty useless too - when you see the same person sitting, standing, leaning, smoking, playing with a phone and generally doing anything except working, day after day, regardless of the time you pass through, it's hard to see what they are bringing to the job.

It's the fundamentals of the operation - the techniques, design and implementation - which are at fault. Once that's been decided, Mr Roadworker is left with little option but to follow instructions.

And NZTA must bear the brunt of the blame for that. Big government group, apparently not overseen (that job must currently fall to Michael Wood?) and with no apparent expectation of improving delivery.

[NZ BMW 368]

21 hours ago, Olaf said:

I have to disagree.  20 or 30 years ago they weren't doing 30x30cm patches on roads, they were doing half a lane-width and trying to fix the substrate, so at least a temporary repair would give 3-4 months safe service.  There is no evidence of this kind of repair being done poorly.  If it is a question of quality workmanship, it's down to contract management - something a quality commercial procurement department will resolve.

Honestly, I saw better roading in Ireland and Mexico in the 90's than I'm seeing here these days.

We are saving all our pennies for the Auckland tram. 😂

On a related note, I drove SH16 Auckland to Whangarei today. OMG.... I feel like I’ve been in a fight after driving over the road, my poor F30. M-Sport suspension is not built for this! 

[jon dee 500]

Only 8% of our roads being repaired this Xmas

Does this mean that 92% of our roads are broken ? Reading the above suggests that they are

Cheers...

[GorGasm 563]

I gotta say the road system in Hamilton is pretty good.  Still some issues with surfacing in places but the ring system works really well.

Also the Huntly portion of the Waikato expressway is excellent.

 

Auckland is just a shocker.

Edited January 20, 2021 by GorGasm

[Eagle 1679]

It's not that Hamilton is that good imo, its just the Auckland is that bad. The ring system works ok and is improving but are some major choke points that are ages away from even being addressed\been neglected eg K-Drive\Hospital area  

Problem is increasing number of people, cars and urban sprawl etc never keeps up with roading infrastructure hole we have dug ourselves into. 

[GorGasm 563]

Ahh, I don't use that side of town, I haunt Rototuna so only see all the new fancy stuff