Experts say it will take nine years to repair the district’s roads at the current rate of funded work.
There is an estimated 72km of sealed road in dire need of rehabilitation in the district and the Ashburton District Council is currently rehabilitating around 8km of it per year from its available funding.
The council can’t simply repair all 72km in one year because they don’t have the money.
“[We don’t have the] money or probably the resources to do that much in one year,” roading manager Mark Chamberlain said.
“By the time we get that 70km done, there will no doubt be other sections that need the work done.
“It’s just an ongoing thing on an ageing network getting used by traffic.”
For the current financial year the council has budgeted $2,099,160 of subsidised rehabilitation work, which receives 51 per cent funding from Waka Kotahi NZTA, and that covers around 8km.
The council has an additional $1.7m, reallocated from the forestry reserve, for unsubsidised road rehabilitation, which is a small dent, around 6km, but is addressing the worst areas.
That gives the council a total of $3,799,160 for sealed road rehabilitation in 2022/23.
Chamberlain said there is 37km of rehabilitation work programmed in the next three years, and another 23kms after that so the additional $1.7m of funding is “a bit of a catch-up, but we still have a lot of work to do”.
Chamberlain said the decision on what sections to do first has been chosen based on “the engineer’s assessment of the network”.
“Rehabs are the best solution to fixing our roads that have got problems at the end of their life and they create a long term solution.”
The council approved the allocation of the $1.7m, but one councillor was not happy.
Councillor Stuart Wilson again railed against money being poured into “that blasted Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road which is the bane of my life”.
He believed the $1.7m was supposed to be spread around the district, not “up into that damn scenic highway”.

What $1.7m or roading covers:
Barford Road – 0.48km - south of Hackthorne Road
Barford Road – 0.40km - between Oakleys Road and Orchards Road
Forks Road – 1.20km - south of Earlys Road
Mayfield Valetta Road – 1.30km - between McKenzies Road and Wallaces Road
Thompsons Track – 3.02km – north of Line Road

• By Jonathan Leask