Kiwis will see fewer potholes on our roads with rehabilitation works set to more than double through the Government’s summer road maintenance programme to ensure our roads are maintained to a safe and reliable standard, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.

“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 reliable network that will support this growth.

“The thousands of Kiwi motorists and freight operators driving on our state highways every day have become all too aware of the shocking number of potholes on our roads.

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

The Government’s Pothole Prevention Fund will deliver 285.6 lane kilometres of rehabilitation work over the coming summer months – a 124% increase compared with last year.

“Rehabilitation involves full-width repairs of our existing roads, and renews the life of the roading pavement, rather than simply filling in potholes,” Brown says.

“Long-lasting rehabilitation work that strengthens the network and prevents potholes from forming in the first place is critical to lifting the quality of our roading network and has a much longer lasting impact than resealing the road.

“In recent years, investment has not kept pace with the amount of work required to maintain the network, resulting in cutbacks to rehabilitation work while quick fixes have been prioritised.

“This has resulted in increasingly rapid deterioration of the road network across the country. To reverse this decline, our Government is prioritising rehabilitation work alongside a significant resealing programme.

“Our Government is focused on getting back to basics and has boosted funding for pothole prevention on our state highways by 91% compared to the previous three years. This funding is ringfenced for resealing, rehabilitation, and drainage maintenance works to ensure that maintenance funds are used to fix and prevent potholes.

“Our state highways are critically important to increasing productivity and unlocking economic growth. The Government is committed to increasing maintenance and renewals to tackle and prevent potholes so that Kiwis and freight can get to where they want to go, quickly and safely.”