25 August 2022
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Potholes
Enquiry
we seem to have a lot of potholes again around the district and I've noticed more people talking about it on social media.
We did a story about this in July last year using some data we got from an OIA (see link below) and there were some great comments from the council.
Given this is topical now, I wanted to avoid doing another OIA so not sure how specific you can be with answering my questions below. Can you let me know if any of this information can be plucked from somewhere? If not, happy to go with whatever you can provide in a day's turnaround if possible.
- Are potholes worse at the moment/recently? If so, why? (feel free to explain again about the weather similar to the previous story)
- How many potholes were repaired on Rotorua Lakes Council roads each year for the past five years? (Or even just anecdotally if this information isn't readily available)
- How much is budgeted each year to fix potholes?
- Has that budget increased in the past five years?
- Who fixes potholes? How does the programme work? Do you respond to complaints or is there a system of when each road gets checked and repaired?
- Why are some areas more prone to potholes? What causes them?
- Do you ever put up warnings to traffic about potholes?
- Are there more potholes now because a lower grade bitumen, which is cheaper, is being used?
- I have spoken to a local man whose tyre rim was extensively damaged from a pothole and he is describing the situation as "madness around town". Do you agree?
- Does the council ever pay for people's tyre damage as a result of striking potholes?
- Feel free to add anything else you think will be helpful.
Subsequent from reporter when asked if she had any further detail, eg roads of particular concern:
Reporter confirmed she had sent a similar request to Waka Kotahi.
There was a post from Tara Morrison on Rotorua Notice Board two days ago about potholes but looks like it's been removed by admin. That's what has given me the idea to do another story. There were heaps of comments and from memory Te Ngae Rd, Fenton St and Pukuatua St near Kuirau Park were mentioned.
That post was shared on NZ Owner Operators & Drivers yesterday where a truck driver is talking about roads (assume nationwide) are the worst they've been in 29 years.
In general discussions its been mentioned the the cost of bitumen had risen over the years and councils/govt nationwide were now using a cheaper grade which wasn't as effective. This is completely unsubstantiated of course.
There's also been lots of comments in recents weeks on our FB page I'm told in relation to other stories likes crashes etc, including one on the Brian Tamaki crash that said this: Those potholes on hamurana road are deep enough to do a manu in
Response
From DCE Infrastructure and Environmental Solutions, Stavros Michael:
Re number of pothole repairs for last 5 years:
NOTE: These are figures for the calendar years so 1 Jan – 31 Dec
Year | Urban | Rural | Total |
2017 | 296 | 233 | 529 |
2018 | 364 | 377 | 741 |
2019 | 627 | 433 | 1060 |
2020 | 606 | 415 | 1021 |
2021 | 432 | 478 | 910 |
To date this calendar year | 421 | 330 | 751 |
IMPORTANT NOTE: The data provided refers to repairs on any type of undulation so it wouldn’t be accurate to say that the totals for each year are the total number of what people typically refer to as potholes for those years.
Our classification of a ‘pothole’ refers to any undulation on the road surface which could be as little as 25mm (loss of surface chip) or as deep as 100mm, which is what most people would classify as a typical ‘pothole’.
Re cost: Pothole repairs are covered under a lump sum payment for the contract which, as well as pothole repairs, also includes detritus sweeping, grate clearance, minor drainage maintenance, bridge inspections, detritus removal on cycleways and footpaths. Separate data on potholes cannot be extracted.
Re causes of undulations or potholes and why some areas are more prone to damage:
- Weather patterns i.e. extreme rainfall penetrating road surfaces and creating hydraulic pressure due to traffic loading which pops up a small chunk of seal creating a surface dip.
- Icy temperatures where water in the voids of the road surface becomes ice which then expands and pushes up the road surface.
- Utilities trenching works where the resealing joints allow water to penetrate the surface and soften the subsurface causing loss of the seal membrane.
- Residential construction works also create the necessity for the installation of utilities which can result in the trenching effect.
Most road surface damage is due to water ingress inside the road pavement and we’ve had a lot of rainfall in recent months. Rainfall events are becoming more frequent and more severe and generally, we can expect more road damage during winter months when we tend to have more rain. That’s also the time of year when conditions are less favourable for repairing road damage.
Reporting and repair process: Anyone who notices damage on our roads can phone Rotorua Lakes Council on 07 348 4199 and a Customer Advisor will log the job directly with our contractor to inspect and repair.
Council’s expectation is that inspections and repairs by our contractor are done as soon as is possible but we acknowledge repairs may be weather dependent.
Reported damage relating to state highways, which are managed by Waka Kotahi, is referred to the agency to deal with. Waka Kotahi can also be contacted directly about damage on state highways.
Re road surface and bitumen: Our contractors are required to use products that meet the standards required for New Zealand roads and our national roading standards are similar to most of the world’s developed countries.
Re warnings about potholes: We do this on occasion if, for example, we’re experiencing a run of potholes along a road or section of road, however potholes are generally repaired soon after they are discovered or reported.
Re RLC covering cost of repairs to people’s vehicles: Council does receive requests for compensation from time to time and these are dealt with on a case by case basis.