SH43 seal ‘not wide enough’
A plea by the road transport industry for a wider sealing on the Forgotten World Highway would add $12 million to the overall cost, and destroy
100-year-old native forest, road authorities say.
The five-metre-wide seal planned along a 12km section of State Highway 43, at Tangarakau Gorge between Stratford and Taumarunui, has been criticised for being too narrow for tourists and truckies.
Taranaki Regional Council road transport committee member Tom Cloke said the 5m width would force tourist camper vans and heavy logging and stock trucks to pull over onto the narrow road shoulder when they meet head on.
But NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) regional relationships director Emma Speight said the seal had to keep within the existing road corridor and the cost would increase by $12m if it was wider.
Up to $9.6m is already allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to seal the section, with an extra $13.4m to be spent on improved signage, way finding, safety barriers and road markings.
Road works are due to start in late
2020, once NZTA completed the design plan.
SH43, which has 50 corners, was not suitable for heavy vehicles, Speight said.
‘‘To accommodate a 6m seal would require cutting back of banks and vegetation and trees.’’
The main constraint to widening the road was the sensitive environment through Department of Conservation land, including 100-year-old forest, she said.
SH43 was slip-prone, and cutting into banks increased that risk in a remote area, resulting in road closures interrupting freight and tourist traffic movements.
Cloke said the NZTA response was ‘‘disappointing.’’
‘‘This is a state highway and it is unacceptable vehicles do not have the room to pull over.
‘‘It’s short-sighted not to build a wider carriageway.’’
Stratford District Council mayor Neil Volzke said there had been discussion with NZTA for the seal width to be 6m, and only 5m where physical constraints made it impossible to go wider.
An average of 170 vehicles a day use the Forgotten World Highway.