Walking the streets in search of faults

Ever wondered how they choose which bumps in the footpath to fix? Janine Rankin finds out.

What footpaths are pedestrians, roads are for cars.

They are key for people moving around the city, and are rather taken for granted until there is something wrong with them.

Keeping them in good repair is a basic council service, but there is a mind-boggling 549 kilometres of them to monitor.

Palmerston North City Council roading manager Jon Schwass is in charge of a council team who, with the help of contractors Roading Logistics, head out once every two years to look at every metre of the network.

Every real or potential bump, hollow or crack is photographed and catalogued.

The other way the council knows about trip hazards on the footpaths is from members of the public, calling to complain.

And remarkably, there is a 95 per cent match between the problems picked up in the survey, and the log of complaints.

The council ranks the priorities from one to five, where one is not a for problem, three is starting to crack up, and five is dreadful and needs urgent attention.

With the information from the two-yearly survey, clusters of problems are identified and a programme of repairs is drawn up.

In between surveys, spot checks are carried out when other works are underway around roads and drains.

In addition, the council cooperates with Powerco and the rollout of ultra fast broadband to find efficiencies in working together on projects that disturb the footpaths and require reinstatement.

For the most part, asphalt footpaths are expected to last for 20 to 25 years before needing replacement.

Concrete footpaths last longer, up to 80 years. The most common causes of footpaths cracking up earlier are tree roots, or heavy vehicles crossing the berms.