Six rural roads to get dust seal extensions

The Council plans to spend over $4 million this financial year combatting dust by sealing sections of six Far North rural roads.

General Manager – Infrastructure and Asset Management, Andy Finch, says the Long Term Plan commits the Council to investing $11 million over 10 years to seal critical risk roads. 

“These are roads that cause community concern about dust generation and were selected using a newly-developed prioritisation matrix. This ranks individual roads based on criteria such as traffic volumes, the number of residents on each road, the presence of schools, marae and other community facilities, and whether the road is a significant detour route.”

He says the matrix ensures sealing decisions are based on transparent criteria applied fairly and consistently across the whole district. 

Seal extensions on three of the roads will be funded entirely from the Council’s $3 million unsubsidised priority seal extension programme. It is intended the remaining roads will be co-funded with the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA). Once it signs-off on the projects, the agency will pay 66 per cent of the total cost of road sealing through its subsidised dust sealing allocation. 

In total, 10.06km of road will be sealed at a cost of $4.14 million. Contracts for the work were approved by the Council during its 29 August meeting and will be awarded to Broadspectrum Limited and Fulton Hogan. 

Work on roads funded entirely by the Council will likely begin early in 2020. The roads and distances to be sealed are: 

• Kumi Road, Awanui – 3.9km
• Porotu Road, Oromahoe – 1.3km
• Puketi Road, Okaihau – 1km. 

Roads and distances to be sealed under the NZTA allocation are: 

• Otangaroa Road, Kaeo - 0.2km
• Church Road, Kaitaia – 1.7km
• Koropewa Road, Waipapa – 1.8km. 

NZTA will make a final decision on funding for these roads once a business case is presented to it by the Northland Transportation Alliance.