Roads
Tararua Districts Sealed Roads
The purpose of the sealed road network is to provide effective movement of goods, produce and people, across a safe suitable all-weather surface. Careful prioritisation of sealed road activities is important for a consistent, accessible and safe sealed road network.
Council has 1187 kilometres of sealed road supporting a large geographic area. The vast majority of sealed roads are rural with relatively low traffic volumes, primarily consisting of traffic such as logging trucks, stock trucks and milk tankers. An increase in logging across the district in future years will result in an increased deterioration of the rural network, with the effects of this yet to be fully determined.
Important activities include:
- Network inspections; identification, assessment and recording of road defect information to enable robust maintenance programming.
- Cyclic patrols; remedying minor road defects such as potholes on a cyclic basis, where the road’s patrol frequency is based on its classification (or function and use), to ensure a safe level of service is being provided.
- Programmed maintenance; programmed repair of road defects such as pavement deformation and surface cracking in an effective and efficient manner to ensure the asset is maintained in a safe and serviceable condition, while maximising its life and realising the investment made in it.
- Pavement resurfacing; renewal of the road’s surface to maximise the life of the underlying, more expensive pavement and to restore skid resistance.
- Pavement rehabilitation; renewal of the entire road at the end of its useful life to restore and/or increase pavement strength, minimising increasing and ongoing maintenance costs.
- Minor improvements; generally carried out in conjunction with the pavement rehabilitation to improve safety, such as widening, realignment, and sight distance improvements.
Key Project:
Huarahi Tūhono - Weber to Wimbledon
Unsealed Roads
The purpose of the unsealed road network is to provide cost-effective movement of goods, produce and people, across a safe surface.
Council has 772 kilometres of unsealed road with less than 1km in urban areas and the remainder rural roads. The majority of these roads are no exit and provide access to low usage areas of the network such as farms and forestry blocks. The impact of increasing forestry vehicles on historically very low volume roads is significant, as many unsealed roads have not been designed to carry heavy loads. Investment in maintenance, renewal and improvements is increasing to accommodate this, and is expected to increase future with future forestry harvest and traffic load predictions.
Important activities include:
- Network inspections; identification, assessment and recording of road defect information to enable robust maintenance programming.
- Cyclic patrols; remedying minor road defects such as potholes on a cyclic basis, where the road’s patrol frequency is based on its classification (or function and use), to ensure a safe level of service is being provided.
- Cyclic maintenance; grading of unsealed roads to remedy defects (potholes, corrugations, etc.) and restore the surface shape and strength. The grading frequency of a road can range from monthly to 6-monthly and is dependent on a range of factors including; function and use, material, climate, topography, width, and strength.
- Programmed maintenance; addition of maintenance metal or lime to restore the road’s wearing course and/or minimise nuisance dust, or isolated pavement repairs to address deep seeded issues.
- Pavement renewal; significant rebuild of the road to restore and/or increase pavement strength and minimise increasing and ongoing maintenance costs.
- Minor improvements; generally carried out in conjunction with the pavement renewal to improve safety, such as widening, realignment, and sight distance improvements.