‘We are the forgotten peninsula’
Extensive cyclone damage to State Highway 25A has left parts of Coromandel Peninsula isolated, with locals fearing it could be years before their main road reopens. Annemarie Quill reports.
‘‘The Coromandel reminds me of the Hotel California – you can check in, but you can never leave. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the roads fall into the valley.’’
Hamilton man Paul Watene is not joking. With the region’s main arterial route SH25A devastated by a 100m landslide, and more slips, dropouts and debris on local roads struggling to cope with heavy traffic, travel is hazardous.
When a new slip this week forced vehicles to divert to a ‘‘goat track’’, people feared that crumbling roads may soon cut Coromandel off from the rest of Aotearoa, creating a ‘‘forgotten peninsula’’.
Tairua automotive engineer Johnny Grundling now gets up at 4am to drive to work in Thames because he can’t use SH25A. On Monday, taking the only other way round on SH25, he turned the corner to find a chunk of that road had also disappeared.
‘‘It was dark and raining, but in my headlights I saw a huge hole right in front of me. I would have fallen down the cliff if I hadn’t swerved right. Lucky nothing was coming the other way. A close call... It sent shivers down my spine.’’
The new washout between Hikuai and Opoutere meant the road was closed or down to one lane for most of the week – not ideal for travellers like Grundling using it as the alternate to SH25A. A chorus of locals grew louder saying that road will be the next to disappear.
The economic impact of successive weather events over the peak holiday season for ThamesCoromandel and Hauraki Districts has been catastrophic.
Prime Minster Chris Hipkins said this week when he visited the region, that to call the clean-up in the peninsula a big job is an understatement.
Waka Kotahi, the Government’s transport agency, will take a year to fix SH25A, sounding a death knell to businesses desperate for visitors. Some are 90% down on revenue, others are shutting down, already struggling after the pandemic and now facing what locals describe as the ‘‘death of the highway’’.
Actual deaths from the closure are something residents agree are inevitable. SH25A is not just a lifeline for businesses dependent on the tourist dollar, but is also the quickest emergency route in and out.
An ambulance could previously power through the peninsula on SH25A to reach Thames Hospital in 45 minutes or less. Now it can take up to two hours on difficult terrain, in parts unsealed.
While Coromandel’s tourism body is touting the loop road as a destination, former nurse and Whitianga resident Sandy Hansen says SH25A is more than a holiday highway.
‘‘Ambulances don’t like scenic routes. Without the road, residents on the eastern peninsula feel isolated and trapped ... with a sense of impending doom.’’
For Whangamata¯ mother Dianne Reihana, being trapped would be disastrous. Her son Mase, 7, has serious kidney disease.
‘‘Over the years, we’ve had to rush over to Thames. Complications like peritonitis come on suddenly and are life-threatening without quick treatment.’’
As Reihana is preparing to donate her own kidney to Mase, who’s on dialysis, there are essential regular trips to hospitals in Auckland and Waikato. Their journey times have increased by hours, adding to financial cost and emotional stress on the family, and forcing Mase’s father to put his business on hold.
Everyday life is affected. Reihana worries about getting Mase and his sister to school. This week she had to carpool as the school bus couldn’t make it through road closures.
Owner of Tairua Bus Company, Steve Mosen, says there are 30 families in Pauanui and Tairua who now struggle to get children to school over the hill.
‘‘Some battle it on the bus, but it’s a gruelling round trip taking hours. Others are homeschooling
‘‘It was dark and raining, but in my headlights I saw a huge hole right in front of me. I would have fallen down the cliff if I hadn’t swerved right. Lucky nothing was coming the other way. A close call... It sent shivers down my spine.’’
Johnny Grundling
or even moving house.’’
This week’s slip was the final straw, with a diversion through road 309 which locals call ‘‘a goat track’’. If alternate routes continue to buckle under the heavy diverted traffic, thousands of children would be affected, he says, as he would have to stop some routes.
‘‘It’s uneconomic to keep doing it. The way roading infrastructure is affecting people’s lives is dire. A year to fix is not acceptable.’’
Angela Alvarado, whose children take the bus, is considering renting a motel midweek near the school, Hauraki Plains College, along with other families, seeing no alternative offered by Waka Kotahi.
‘‘Maybe it’s time they open forestry tracks to traffic.’’
Plumber Troy Wood has been travelling on SH25A for 18 years. His daily commute from Thames to Pauanui used to take 40 minutes each way, now it’s four hours. Wood has dropped to four days and stays over in Pauanui, losing income and time with family. ‘‘It’s more than frustrating. It’s disgusting the time they’re taking. Why can’t they just build a bypass around the slip?’’
There is more than the economy and disrupted lives at stake, Wood says. ‘‘There’s going to be a death on the road between Waihı¯ and Whangamata¯ . It’s not designed for logging and fuel trucks. Someone’s going to smack into one.’’
Residents are paying the cost of poor road maintenance, he says. ‘‘Culverts and guttering are not cleared, so water flows on the road after rain. With the huge slip on SH25A, a dam built up, then burst. You can see it happening again on other roads.’’
Tairua’s Colette Hedges is also considering renting in Auckland rather than face a long commute. On Monday she couldn’t get to work at all.
‘‘My drive would have doubled. Friends are in the same boat – one is now on the road 22 hours a week. Road closures are a constant threat. It’s not satisfactory to have so many closed. Maybe we’re not making enough noise.’’
Hot Water Beach Holiday Park owner Sheree Webster is making noise. She’s organising a hui to raise concerns. ‘‘We are the forgotten peninsula. The poor neighbour, overlooked and underinvested. The Government needs to invest more in roading here. One in five people are employed in tourism, but how can the economy survive without transport?’’
New Zealand’s ‘‘culture of consulting’’ is strangling the SH25A repair, sucking up money and time instead of debris from the slips, she says. ‘‘We need action now. We’re resilient, but we’ve had enough.’’
Cafe´ owner Heman Ahlowalia agrees. His own business is down 90%. He’s had to close the kitchen at Bugger Cafe´ on SH25 and reduce hours at Pepe in Tairua. His commute from Auckland is now a sixhour trip.
‘‘To say my businesses are suffering is an understatement. This is the fourth summer in a row down the drain.’’
With livelihoods and lives at risk, people deserve better answers, he says.
‘‘The road is our lifeline. We need clearer explanations from Waka Kotahi – OK, we are
not experts, but why a year? Are they getting the best advice internationally? In similar situations in countries like Japan, they fix roads quickly. They should have people 24 hours a day, on three shifts.
‘‘We’re hugely grateful to the road workers doing a phenomenal job, but the project is not fast enough.’’
Coromandel MP Scott Simpson has gone in to bat for constituents. ‘‘Waka Kotahi has given assurances it will take up to a year, but I’m hoping it will be less. Business owners are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. The road needs to be open before Christmas.’’
More rain in autumn and winter will put further pressure on an already fragile roading network, he says. ‘‘Central government must prioritise strengthening the region’s roads.’’
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visited the region on Thursday, saying the rebuild of the highway would cost around $60m. Waka Kotahi’s regional manager of infrastructure, Jo Wilton, is the woman in the hot seat, managing the repair of the highway.
This week she met with geotech engineers assessing three options: retreat north and build a bypass around the top of the site; replace the lost section of road with a bridge; or rebuild the supporting ground with retaining walls.
Each option has varying challenges, says Wilton, but ground conditions are the significant factor in determining the preferred option, as well as time.
‘‘A bypass road above the slip face travels through very hilly country with steep slopes to negotiate and deep cuts to be made. We need to understand what type of material we would have to cut through to form the road. The material will determine if retaining walls are needed, how much material needs to be removed and how long it would take to do, working over autumn and winter.
‘‘If we build a bridge, we need to understand the founding depth for the piles and how to get access for machinery to drill and construct the piles and lift the beams onto the piers and everything else needed to form the superstructure of a bridge.
‘‘If we build a new road from the ground up we need to determine how much material we have to remove to get down to this founding layer, and what kind of retaining wall to use to get it built as quickly as possible.’’
Original cracks in the road started to widen on January 15, and the site has progressed from there to what can now be seen.
When the road was constructed around 1965, material cut from the hillside was used as the fill for the gully, just like how other state highway networks were built, Wilton says.
Now, imported fill may be used to strengthen the road and preserve underlying layers in bad weather. International consultants have not been necessary, she says, as the country’s own engineers understand the geology of the land best.
Addressing the safety of alternate routes, Waka Kotahi is assessing traffic volumes and prioritising clearing drains and culverts.
There are plans for chip sealing and resurfacing in areas.
Locals who the Sunday Star-Times spoke to fear the work will take more than a year, or that it will turn into a complete death of the highway with the road never reopened at all.
They only need to look back to April 2017, when SH3 through the Manawatu¯ Gorge was permanently closed due to multiple landslides and risk of further rockfalls. Six years on, traffic between Manawatu¯ and Hawke’s Bay is still being diverted via the Saddle Rd and Pahı¯atua Track – both narrow, winding roads. A new $630m highway over the Ruahine Range, Te Ahu a Turanga, is scheduled for completion in 2024. Coromandel locals say they are struggling to get to Christmas without the highway, never mind six years.
Unknown weather events in the coming year could affect the project, Wilton acknowledges, but says Waka Kotahi is fully committed to rebuilding SH25A and reinstating vital connections in the region within the estimated timeframe.
Until then... it’s a dark desert highway.