Council will ‘do better’ with eBus routes after costly road damage
Running an eBus on Nelson’s Jenner Rd, causing almost $60,000 worth of damage, was a case when things “could have been done better”, a council manager says.
A $400,000 plan to urgently fix roads damaged by Nelson’s new eBuses was approved by the Nelson City Council yesterday.
Jenner Rd suffered major damage before the narrow, hilly route was retired and replaced, group infrastructure manager Alec Louverdis said in a report.
To date, $29,000 has been spent on repairs, but some permanent works were still to be undertaken. The full cost of Jenner Rd repairs is $59,000.
At a Nelson City Council meeting yesterday, Louverdis told councillors that for any route extensions in future staff would ascertain “whether those roads ... can actually take the load”.
Louverdis told the meeting public feedback had supported having buses in the area, and the decision was made to make Jenner Rd a route.
However, the council “missed a trick” in ascertaining whether that road could actually take the bus, and didn’t anticipate the type of damage that occurred.
There were a lot of services underneath the road, and its integrity had to be maintained, he said.
“I think this is one of the cases that we could have done better,” Louverdis said.
However, it was an instance of a “genuine issue where we thought that we would be okay, and we weren't.”
Generally, damage was being seen in routes that were used by buses and heavy trucks. However, in certain locations there was a greater number of buses, and that had caused damage.
Louverdis was asked if the council had the information to assess whether routes were appropriate for the buses.
The council had been collecting data about roads for the past three or four years, from the last Long Term Plan, he said.
Usually, the council only found issues in roads once they were dug up.
“When we dig them up we find there’s no structural layers, they’re built on sea sand. And once we open that up, we are truly in a mess.
“If you don’t touch it, it’s fine. As soon as you touch it, water finds its way in and it degrades.”
Louverdis said there were still roads that from an engineering point of view, it was “amazing” they hadn’t broken up earlier.
“We find all sorts of stuff, coal tar, everything that we can possibly find.”
Councillor Campbell Rollo asked if there were any issues with the standard of the asphalt at the Bridge St bus interchange, which is now broken and cracked.
Louverdis said staff made sure that the work that was paid for was up to standard, and he didn’t think there was any substandard work from contractors.
Asked about future budgets, Louverdis said the council had increased the renewals budget in anticipation of a need to do more work on the roads as part of the Long Term Plan.
Councillor James Hodgson said it was good to try new things, and that Louverdis’ broad overview had been helpful.
“It is also refreshing for the community to hear
‘We tried something. That one didn’t work. Fair enough.
“And we’ve learned from it’,” he said.