Please fix road – Northern Advocate – 27th
August 2014-08-28
Road Madness
As we live off Cemetery Road
we can use State Highway 14/ Maunu Road or Otaika Valley Road to go to State
Highway 1 if we are going south. Over the
last couple of years we chose to
use the SH14 option, as Otaika Valley Road has high accidents numbers, safety
concerns and the road is in poor condition.
Saturday, off early, we went
south to watch our grandson play soccer.
We decided to go via and check
any improvements to Otaika Valley Road.
Why do I say this? I attended a
meeting that concerned residents of Otaika Valley Road held on 27th
August 2013.
It was before the October 2013
local body elections, where from memory, candidates Sheryl Mai, Councillor Phil
Halse, Councillor Greg Martin, Councillor Sharon
Morgan, Councillor Shelley Deeming, Councillor Warwick Syers,
Whangarei District Council Roading Manager Jeff Devine told a packed hall how
they were going to fix the issues of speed, road conditions, accident rates and
logging truck issues with a working group initiated on that evening.
So
our venture, on this road, which we had been avoiding, was well timed in the
early morning and low traffic volumes to observe any improvements.
Were we surprised of what we
found?
No! Unfortunately some of those, by my observations, who every three
years tend to suffer from verbal diarrhoea, on election campaigns, have done
nothing more than vent off as usual
to capture votes. We found the road atrocious, with potholes, substandard
repairs everywhere and one having to move away from the left on numerous occasions
to avoid possible tyre, wheel rim and mechanical damage to ones vehicle, enabling
us to transverse this road in a safe manner.
Those that were elected, in
the last year, appear to have done stuff all to improve this dangerous road so
they need to hang their heads in shame. One
of our neighbours lost their life on this road, so how many deaths and injuries
will it take before Whangarei District Council and those who made the
commitments, at that meeting, prioritise this and take it serious ahead of their
habit of building more ‘fluffy dice projects’?
This is just basic core
infrastructure requirements that council has an obligation to address for the
safety and well being of our community.
There was one sign there ‘thanking
the trucks for slowing down’; obviously erected by a resident; but councils input was obvious by its
absence.
Remember, actions speak louder
than words; just get on and fix it!
Warren Slater
Maunu
Items that
were abridged by the Northern Advocate are in italics, (for their published copy)