Roads: Signed, sealed and delivered
Published on 27 January 2025
Council has recently received several questions as to why there is so much roadworks going on. Especially when roads like Ngunguru Ford Road and Bank Street get resealed, when they look perfectly OK. These are fair questions, so let's see if we can answer them here.
The top seal coat of the road (the part of the road that we drive on) is like paint on a house – it keeps water out of the structure underneath. Over time, due to the sun, the seal breaks down and cracks are formed, letting water in. Ideally, the contractor would reseal just before the seal fails, therefore the road may look good, when in fact it is at the end of its life. The type of topcoat that is put on the road is typically determined by what type and volume of traffic is using it.
By resealing roads before they get too bad, we can extend their life and avoid more costly repairs in the future. Recently, you may have seen our Council team out on the roads, looking over them. These are regular health check-ups, just like going to a doctor, allowing the team to determine if the information they have on file is correct.
While many of us have grown up with a good pavement under our vehicles or feet, this has not always been the case. Going back not too many years, the road between Whangārei and Auckland, was, for many sections, still gravel.
It was only through consecutive forward thinking by local governments, the Automotive Association, our local community and businesspeople, that the importance of changing a gravel road to a sealed single-lane road, to a two-way road and now to a four-lane expressway, became possible. Every time there is an upgrade, there is a cost. On local roads, this cost is borne by your Council, which effectively means you.
For our community, there is no perfect time to upgrade roads or even reseal roads, as we all need to use them. For our contractors, summer is the best time for sealing roads due to the warm and (mostly) dry weather.
When it comes to the costs, every three years, elected members must set budgets as to how many roads will need resealing, repairing or replacing. This decision-making process is helped by a computer software package that has all the data fed into it, and this is why you will see engineers and contractors out comparing the results of the software package with what is on the road.
It’s no secret that there are more roads needing resealing than there is funding available. That is why estimating budgets is so important and getting the additional funding needed from Central Government is so key. It’s also why Council must use a thorough assessment process to determine which road surfaces are more likely to fail and then reseal those as a priority. Where possible, the contractors will reseal as many roads as they can in the same area and look at new ways of doing things to keep costs down.
While our contractors are out and about fixing road problems ahead of time, we need your help too. If you see a problem with our roads, please report it:
Report road and footpath issues
Your feedback helps our team identify and prioritise areas that need attention, so we can keep our District moving.