Reporter asks Auckland Transport: How’s progress on sealing the gravel roads?

13 July 2019. Weekend Herald-

25 Questions for Auckland Transport

By Simon Wilson
25Q2

Q4: How’s progress on sealing the gravel roads?

I asked councillor Greg Sayers, of the largely rural Rodney ward, about this. He said, “Auckland Transport’s sealing programme for unsealed roads was not keeping up with Auckland’s growth. The regional budget was quadrupled to $12.1 million a year. However, Auckland Transport is only delivering $4.7 million a year because Auckland Council throttled back this budget, prioritising other projects.”

He’s right. Auckland has nearly 850km of unsealed roads and about 75 per cent of them are in Rodney. AT’s programme of work tapered off late last year and Auckland Transport’s Chief Executive Shane Ellison confirmed they will miss their target.

That’s a broken commitment on the roads of rural Auckland at a time when those same roads have been identified as high safety risks.

By Simon Wilson, Senior Hearld writer.