Transport Minister Simeon Brown is continuing his war on the country’s potholes, announcing targets to fix almost all within 24 hours of identification.

Simeon says the Government’s new pothole repair targets agreed between NZTA and roading contractors include:

• 95 per cent of potholes on high-volume, national and arterial state highways are to be repaired within 24 hours of identification
• 85 oer cent of potholes on regional, primary collector, and secondary collector state highways are to be repaired within 24 hours of identification.

“Potholes have been plaguing our state highways. They are a safety hazard and cause significant disruption,” Simeon says, speaking beside the Southern Motorway in Auckland today.

Last month, the Government announced it would spend $4 billion over the next three years fixing and preventing potholes on state highways and roads nationwide.

Auckland was to get a $478 million boost in pothole funding; Waikato $214m and Canterbury allocated $187m in funding.

The targets announced today would come through NZTA’s State Highway Pothole Prevention Activity Class, he says.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown, right, and NZ Transport Agency group general manager transport services Brett Gliddon at today's announcement near the Southern Motorway in Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig.

A total of $2.07b in funding would go towards state highway potholes and $1.9b for local road potholes.

”We have ring-fenced this record investment in the Pothole Prevention Fund to resealing, rehabilitation and drainage maintenance works to ensure that NZTA and councils get our state highways and local roads up to the safe and reliable standards that Kiwis expect,” says Simeon.

NZTA confirmed indicative funding levels for the Pothole Prevention Fund for the regions, ranging from $7m in Nelson to $478m for Auckland.

NZTA group general manager transport services Brett Gliddon says there was no backlog of potholes, saying the 24-hour repair started from July 1 with a real push on contractors to get out on the network to repair potholes, saying “we are seeing good results”.

Both regular road users and freight operators would benefit from ensuring a greater number of potholes on state highways are identified and fixed within 24 hours, Simeon says.

Pothole repairs on the region's highways are an ongoing focus of NZTA. Photo / NZME.

“Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is a key priority for the Government, and boosting pothole repairs and prevention will deliver a safe and efficient network that will support this growth.

“Our Government has inherited a significant backlog of road maintenance across the network. We are now catching up on the maintenance deficit to ensure that Kiwis and freight can get to where they need to go, quickly and safely.

“I encourage all New Zealanders that see a pothole on our highways to report it to NZTA immediately by calling 0800 44 44 49.”

Simeon says pothole progress would be tracked through automated real-time reporting by August 1, with NZTA already holding daily operational calls with suppliers to monitor performance and identify trends.

“Achieving these targets will reduce the number of potholes on our roads, and the use of premium materials, innovative technology, and increased resources will prevent potholes from forming again in the same location.”

When the $4b fund was announced last month, New Zealand roads were plagued by 62,000 potholes, the highest number in a decade, Simeon says.

That funding announcement was met with delight from frequent road users such as truckies and others driving heavy vehicles for business, who have long lambasted the state of our highways.

Among those to take aim at conditions was McLeod Cranes managing director Scott McLeod, who told the Bay of Plenty Times a year ago he believed the poor state of the roads was a health and safety problem.

“I’ve been running the McLeod group for 18 years now and the roads are the worst I’ve seen them.”

Potholes had also been a continual hazard road freight deliveries, as well as the general public, National Road Carriers Association chief executive Justin Tighe-Umbers says last month.

“Our potholed roads cause millions of dollars of damage to trucks and cause physical and mental health issues for drivers. We know of drivers who have stopped working because of the stress caused by our substandard roads.”

‘It took out one wheel’

Many motorists also came forward with tales of woe.

Vik Olliver’s car was damaged when he struck a pothole at 100km/h on State Highway 1 near Taupō last year.

“They weren’t marked or anything, there weren’t any speed limits enforced, and I ploughed into what appeared to be the biggest one”, the Masterton man told RNZ.

“It took out one wheel. The total bill was about $4000. We were not the first, nor the last, car. There were 10 other vehicles requiring towing from that pothole.”

Road surfaces aren’t the first bit of the transport network to get warp-speed treatment.

The Government earlier fast-tracked fixing a vital Coromandel Peninsula link, with State Highway 25A bridge opening three months early in December.

The new 124-metre viaduct marked the end of a difficult period for Coromandel residents after the section of road disappeared in a landslip during the previous January’s storms.