Old road’s future up for debate

The future of the old Whangamonoa Rd is under discussion.

The council is yet to decide whether it will remain a public road or be reclassified, with councillors due to discuss the issue at workshop in the coming months.

Council has received several submissions on the issue during the long term plan process.

The council stopped maintaining the road in the mid 1980s following the opening of the Upper Mangaeghu Rd. The Whangamomona Road Action Group was formed to carry on with the maintenance the road, but a lack of funding meant it fell into disrepair.

The issue was raised during a recent council meeting in Whangamomona by several residents who wondered what its future looked like.

Whangamomona Hotel owner Richard Pratt asked councillors whether it was going to remain a public road or be reclassified.

“This decision needs addressing immediately. It is hard to imagine as I have been told that in the 1980s you could easily drive a ute down the road. As ratepayers, no one will want large sums of money spent on the road, but the way forward needs to be addressed.”

He says maintenance of the road needs “urgent” attention to cater for growing numbers of tourists as well as the trampers mountain bikers, walkers, four wheel drive traffic, farmers and beekeepers who needed access.

SDC roading manager Steve Bowden says the issue will be workshopped in the new financial year, once staff have gotten through the long term plan process.

Steve says council received a legal opinion on the obligations of council maintaining the road and a report received from Redjacket Consulting Engineers estimated the cost to return the road to a “farm track” standard was $1.5 million.

However, several storm events which have resulted in numerous slips blocking the road mean the figure would more likely be $2m.

Steve says before the 1940s Whangamomona Rd was the only road access to the Aotuhia Station and was maintained by the Whangamomona County Council. In 1942 a flood event resulted in the road being closed due to washouts.

“As an indication of the enormity of the flood, a tree log was washed down the Whangamomona River and got jammed under the deck of the Bridge to Somewhere. Due to the significant amount of damage caused, the government of the day refused to fund the repairs to reopen the road and closed the road.”

In 1980 government approval was given to reopen access to the Aotuhia station by creating a road from Makahu via the Upper Mangaehu Rd. Upper Mangaehu Rd was extended to provide road access to Aotuhia Station. his new road was opened in 1985.

Steve says the use of the road is for access to farmland from Whangamomona and Aotuhia as well as a Department of Conservation reserve. The road itself is about 17km long, of which 12km passed through the DoC reserve.

Mayor Neil Volzke says because all options involved more money, council would need to ask who pays for it, which could have a broad impact on ratepayers.

“We have to remember it’s not just the cost of an upgrade that is being questioned, there is the substantial, additional and ongoing cost of maintaining the road beyond that.”

He says there is a diverse range of views around the road because there are different user groups that use the road but have different requirements

“There’s a range of users of that road and it’s a matter of deciding what standard we want the road to be at to make it fit for purpose.”