Roading repairs to stretch into 2018

Many Tararua roads are still scarred and broken a month after July’s massive snowstorm ripped through the district as contractors battle to repair the damage.

Nearly 50 slips and washouts have been identified and repairs are expected to cost at least $2.1 million to fix – a process that could stretch into next year.

The repair bill is another blow to the district as many Woodville and Dannevirke businesses struggle to deal with the effects of the Manawatu Gorge road’s indefinite closure.

The drop in traffic and revenue has already claimed at least three Woodville businesses and was the last straw for Dannevirke icecream icon Tinkerbell Dairy, which closed last week after running for more than 50 years.

Tararua mayor Tracey Collis said the snowstorm had taxed council resources, particularly since it came on the heels of another large storm in April.

‘‘The scars of two storm events so close together are visible throughout the entire district. Many small slips covered the region’s [roads], and the recovery was focused on ensuring roads were open.’’

Dave’s Sports and Outdoors owner Dave Kerr said this year was just going from bad to worse.

‘‘All the country roads are cut up and it will end up with rates going up, taking more money out of the community.’’

Kerr lives in Norsewood, north of Dannevirke, and he found the damaged roads an inconvenience, but said the main thing was that most of them were open.

The Tararua Alliance, a partnership between the council and contracting firm Downer responsible for road maintenance, has reopened most of the district’s roads. But restrictions still apply in several places.

Birch Rd East, Makairo Track and Riverdale Rd and a temporary road around a large washout on Route 52, between Tiraumea and Alfredton, are all restricted to light vehicles only.

Alliance performance manager Ray Cannon said it would take at least $2.1m to restore Tararua’s roads.

‘‘Our intention will be to complete all this work plus the previous flood-damage sites by the end of June 2018, but this will be subject to weather conditions.’’

In the meantime, trucks diverted around those routes were adding to traffic delays in the area.

‘‘It’s causing a bit of mayhem with trucking, particularly the temporary road on Route 52, which usually gets a lot of stock and logging trucks.’’

Alliance workers had bulldozed through debris after the storms to get them open as soon as possible, but there was still a lot of work to be done before trucks could use the roads again.

‘‘We need to wait for everything to dry out before we do anything. The weather for the past couple of days has been good. We just need the rain to hold off.’’

Riverdale Rd’s restoration will be one of the trickiest repairs after a 10-metre deep by 20m wide section broke up and fell into the Mangatera Stream.

Cannon said a retaining wall needed to be built into the road and that required a fairly complicated design.

Collis also said the council had reviewed its response to the storms so it could be more prepared for the next disaster.