An underslip on the Karamea Special Purpose Road (State Highway 67), one of about a dozen resulting from the February 2022 Cyclone Dovi event which are still awaiting repairs. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon / Supplied
The West Coast can expect a greater focus on "resilience" in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Speaking at the West Coast Regional Transport Committee meeting recently, NZ Transport Agency regional relationships director James Caygill noted the implications of the government's recent pullback on the 'road-to-zero' speed management objectives to just the top 1 percent of most dangerous roads.
What that meant for the West Coast had yet to be pinpointed, he said.
At the same time, signals from the Ministry of Transport were that resilience linked to climate change would be the "overarching priority" in the soon to be released land transport policy statement.
Caygill said NZTA had already had some fairly large projects in the pipeline for the West Coast "under the resilience category".
"Our intention is to advance those in the 2024-27 national investment programme ... at the moment the signals are positive we can make progress on some of those things."
Meanwhile, the good summer weather had enabled the sealing programme to be largely completed, including 138km of new chip seal.
Regional Transport Committee deputy chairman Peter Haddock said the sealing was a huge improvement on the 80km completed in the previous summer.
Storm damage at Jones Creek north of Westport at Jones Creek, which cut off State Highway 67 and the adjoining Westport Ngakawau railway in May last year - one of several such events in 2022 affecting the transport network in the northern Buller area. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon / Supplied
However, maintenance issues including at the south bank of the Whanganui River bridge on State highway 6 in South Westland still needed to be addressed.
Caygill said those issues were part of conversations the agency had regularly with the West Coast Regional Council.
"In principle, it's something we have to stay on top of."
Councillor Toni O'Keefe, of Buller, said road flooding had been a serious issue on State highway 67 from Westport to Mokihinui in the past year, particularly at Jones Creek in Birchfield, with blocked drains regularly spilling across the road.
"The drains along that road area a major issue that haven't been addressed for years," she said.
It compromised the ability for emergency vehicles to service the area, for example.
Caygill repeated that an ongoing conversation was needed between the NZTA and regional council over drain maintenance.
West Coast Regional Transport Committee chair Peter Ewen. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon / Supplied
NZTA was only liable to ensure water passed from one side of the road to the other effectively.
"Upstream from the road, that's a regional council responsibility - it's not ours. We have to make sure that by having the road there we are not impeding the flow of water. It's a complicated situation."
But the agency needed to have dialogue with residents in areas with one road in and out particularly, with that resilience problem highlighted by Cyclone Gabrielle, including the local expectation of speedy reconnection after damage.
"These (conversations) are just as important to have in Buller or other parts of the region: what is the level of service you expect us to maintain."
O'Keefe said the lack of communication and "confusion" was a significant factor after a weather event.
"That's why people are getting angry... it just gets placed in the 'too hard basket' and it's not good enough."
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.