Thousands of potholes on New Zealand’s roads are requiring repeat repairs, figures released by Transport Minister Chris Bishop show.

Bishop says the additional repairs carried out recently are temporary patch-ups that are being done during winter. But Labour’s transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere says that’s not the public’s expectation and they believe the job should be done properly the first time.

The data released in response to a written question from the Labour Party shows in June a total of 4731 pothole repairs were completed, but 1997 of those were for second or subsequent repairs.

And 1108 of them were for third or subsequent repairs.

Labour claims figures released by Transport Minister Chris Bishop show the Government’s “pothole patrol is a failure”.  (Source: 1News)

Those numbers are a contrast to January when a total of 1832 repairs were carried out, 423 of them second or subsequent repairs, and 184 third or subsequent repairs.

The average cost to repair a pothole is $200 per 0.5 square metre area.

In response to one of Labour’s written questions Bishop said: “I am advised that NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) uses a two-tiered approach whereby temporary repairs are made quickly, followed by permanent repairs in drier conditions.

“Monitoring of the repairs is conducted every 48 to 72 hours depending on road classification. In addition, NZTA network teams meet with contractors at least once a week to review inspection processes and reactive maintenance results.”

His answer said a fix is a “temporary solution to remove any safety related issues and may require re-attendance within a short period of time”. This is particularly the case during winter when wet and cold weather leads to more potholes.

‘Pothole patrol a failure’

Utikere said: “The Government’s pothole patrol is a failure, people ring and identify that it needs to be fixed once and to be fixed right and what we’ve clearly seen is that’s not the case.”

But Bishop said Utikere is wrong.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop and Labour's Tangi Utikere clashed on the issue.

“Doing it properly is what they do over summer, but you can’t do that in the winter months when the roads get dangerous and potholes appear, it would mean that we would have a whole lot of potholes that weren’t being repaired for some weeks.”

Benefits of cooler weather

Alastair Mackintosh, Chief Executive of NZRoad Limited, which provides pothole patching and spray sealing services, says while it’s harder to do patching in the rain, they like doing the job in the winter.

“We are delivering the emulsion at 50 degrees on to the ground which loves the cooler [weather] and sets very quickly.”

He said the company does 60-100 jobs per day during the winter.

When asked about 40% of the June month’s pothole repairs being repeat jobs, Mackintosh said: “We try to fix the potholes and they don’t always hold – so that could be that substructure or the conditions that we are setting them in. Not every pothole is perfectly round and perfectly shaped to form and stay permanently fixed.”

Mackintosh said they photograph each job as they go and their engineers assess if they may need to return to check whether a potential repair is needed in future.

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