Aerial photos taken in August last year show damage from the flooding. Photo: Supplied / Waka Kotahi
The Marlborough District Council has asked Waka Kotahi for $52.4 million to complete repairs to the region's roads after a severe flooding event in August last year.
The requested funding is for roads outside the Sounds Future Access Study, an investigation into the future of the Marlborough Sounds road network by engineering consultant Stantec NZ.
Marlborough District Council transport recovery adviser Steve Murrin said the funding request was for areas such as the Ure Valley, Awatere Valley, Northbank Rd, Waihopai Valley Rd, Pukaka Rd and Tinline Rd.
There were also ongoing costs such as traffic management, barge subsidies and engineering costs, Murrin said.
While Waka Kotahi were aware the request was coming, Murrin said there was no guarantee they would grant the funding.
"Especially with what's going on in the North Island and a lot of people asking for money," Murrin said.
"It's been lodged, I guess we'll just have to go through the process, and hopefully we'll be successful."
Murrin said if the funding was successful, it would mostly be to repair the roads to the previous standard, but some improvements would be made.
"But we're not putting undersized culverts and things like that back, that we found out through the storm they were too small, we'll be making sure they're the right size.
"We are trying to future-proof them, to cater for climate change and more intense rainfalls.
"If we're building retaining walls and things like that, they are built to standards which is probably better than what we have done in the past. We need to make sure we comply with the Building Act."
He said the funding application was "Stage 2" in the process to fix the roads, and said the Sounds Access Study and investigation in to what levels of services were needed on Marlborough Sounds roads would be a future stage.
It would consider the cost of repairs, climate change, land stability, safety, alternatives to roads if necessary, community and economic impacts of access changes, and housing land stability risks.
The Marlborough District Council is looking for $52m to help fix roads damaged by flooding in August last year. Photo: Stuff
The process was different to the July 2021 weather event, when Waka Kotahi funded 95 percent of the cost of the repairs, about $81m of the $85.3m budget. Of the budget, about $17m had not been spent yet.
But following the 2022 flood, the council was told by Waka Kotahi it needed to "create a network back in the Sounds that is sustainable", before any funding was released.
As part of that study, a series of public meetings were held across the Sounds in January and February, where residents were told a case to fix the roads would be fast-tracked, particularly as it was an election year.
Meanwhile, all areas of "improved access" works across the region had been completed and Murrin said a number of committed projects were either finished or underway.
Murrin said improved access work in Kenepuru was finished well ahead of schedule, and to a higher standard, however access to Kenepuru Rd from Linkwater to the heads was still restricted to residents, emergency and essential services.
"Our focus has been on improving the access for residents in the worst affected areas, and it's pleasing to have this accomplished before winter."
A full review of the recovery zones had been undertaken, with sites identified for maintenance works to "provide resilience" for winter. In the Kenepuru area, crews had already started winter resilience works.
A number of the committed projects including the Fish Bay barge ramp in Kenepuru, the Castle Creek and Black Birch Bridge repairs in the Awatere Valley, and the Waihopai Valley Rd realignment had also been completed.
Work on Northbank Rd and river revetment at the Limestone Bridge in the Awatere Valley to repair damage from July 2021, was also "progressing well".
"On Queen Charlotte Drive, two priority sites are nearing completion, with a replacement retaining wall at the Picton end and a slope protection wall at Mahikapawa Hill," he said.
Murrin said the first draft of the Stantec study was expected to come to staff this week, and he understood it would go to councillors later in the month. It would also go out for public consultation.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air