Truckies support calls for road repairs
A truckie has thrown his support behind residents calling for New Plymouth’s broken Breakwater Rd to be fixed.
Doug Bell drives the potholed damaged road several times a day, carting up to 29 tonnes of bulk stock feed, metal or palm kernel from storage sheds at Port Taranaki to customers.
The Regal Haulage driver said he had never seen the road as bad as it is now. Bell said the solution would be to spend more money on repairing the road surface.
‘‘They just don’t get enough funding to maintain the road, not as much as they should.’’
‘‘It’s always patchwork here and there,’’ he said.
Bell who has driven trucks for 12 years said the problem is not confined to Breakwater Rd - it’s widespread through the country.
‘‘The problem is the state of roads all over, not just here.
‘‘There’s a lot of patchwork (repairs) which goes on.’’
Bell said he felt for the residents who lived alongside the main access route to the port.
Last week New Zealand Transport Agency system manager Ross I’Anson said the agency was aware the noise levels were causing issues with residents.
‘‘We have heard from two people and we have attended the site to address the issues.
‘‘Some maintenance such as filling in potholes has been carried out and the work is ongoing,’’ he said.
Residents should contact the agency on 0800 4 HIGHWAYS if they wanted to report any issues.
The number of truck movements along the route had risen to over 100 a day during the summer as the port experienced one of its busiest trading periods with record amounts of export logs, and imports of agricultural stock feed and fertiliser.
The bumps and ridges on the road are unforgiving to Bell’s 45 tonne Volvo 500 seven axle truck and trailer.
Air bags and covers on both the truck and trailer help suppress the noise and provide a more smoother ride but nothing can prevent the clatter of empty trailers, he said. Many older trucks do not have air bag suspension and were noisier, he said.
‘‘We try to take it easy when we drive the road but there is not much you can do.
‘‘When the trailers are empty they will bounce around a bit but not so much when they are full.’’
Bell said drivers try to go slow to minimise noise levels but ‘‘can only go as slow as not to hold up traffic.’’
Regal Group health and safety compliance manager Meryn Morrison said the road transport industry were concerned more with the things that were not being done to improve road conditions, not just in Taranaki but nationwide.
‘‘We believe it is a health and safety issue that we need better roads in our communities,’’ she said. ‘‘NZTA have to do more to fix the roads.’’
Improving road surfaces would help conserve fuel, as well as less wear on tyres and gears, she said.
Road Transport Association Taranaki executive member Tom Cloke said the bad sate of the roads in the region is being ignored by NZTA.
‘‘The association is sympathetic to residents alongside SH44 but we are asking the agency for a bigger solution to the whole picture, and we are being ignored,’’ Cloke said.
The problem was compounded by the close proximity of the houses to the road, he said.
‘‘It’s a real, real issue, and we’ve had a gutsful.’’