Roadworks strain ‘pure hell’
Homeowners along Auckland’s Southern Motorway are preparing to take action against the New Zealand Transport Agency for cracks and other damage to their homes.
Twenty-five home owners, mostly in Conifer Grove, are seeking compensation from the agency after years of vibrations caused by road widening work on the nearby highway.
Their lawyer, Adina Thorn, said the homes were long established and the problems had only arisen since the work began.
The suspicion was that vibrations through the soft soil had caused the foundations to move, she said.
The homeowners were in ‘‘pure hell’’ and needed to be compensated immediately.
NZTA’s senior manager of project delivery, Chris Hunt, said the transport agency would repair or pay for damage it was found to have caused.
But ‘‘it would not be a responsible use of money to pay for damage that is not linked to construction work’’.
The homes at the centre of the claims were not new, ‘‘and there are many factors that can contribute to damage, including prior to a project getting under way’’.
Dianne Walker and her husband Cliff said they had to move into the lounge with their three children for five months in an attempt to escape the noise and vibration from work at night. In the end they installed $15,000 worth of double glazing.
The cracks in the house remained unsealed for nine months because the insurer had been slow to assess their claim, and then declined it.
Another resident, Gayleen Smith, said she was on antidepressants and sleeping pills.
The residents are planning to picket NZTA’s Takanini office.