14 Aug 2018

Some South Canterbury roads 'totally unsafe' - Farmers

11:38 am on 14 August 2018

A South Canterbury farmer says roads in his district have become impassable due to the poor job the council is doing maintaining them.

An example of spill being left in the middle of the road in Temuka.

An example of spill being left in the middle of the road in Temuka. Photo: Supplied / Jeremy Talbot

Rural roads are deteriorating at a faster rate thanks to the pressure being put on them by extra movements of milk tankers and larger tractors but the question of who should pay to fix the problem is proving contentious.

Jeremy Talbot, who farms near Temuka, said there had been a gradual decline in the state of metal roads in the Timaru District thanks to grader drivers cutting corners and a desire by the council to save money.

Spoil from the graders was being left in the middle of the road, causing a hazard, he said.

He also accused the council of skimping on the amount of fresh gravel it was spreading.

"Some of these roads haven't been re-metalled for over 10 years and so the graders keep coming and the way the grader has done it, he's cut through the base of the road and because we are what we call clay country up here, we have a clay sub-soil, as soon as it gets wet, it just melts and just goes to porridge."

Verges were not being graded back in the way they used to be, meaning roads were up to one-and-a-half metres narrower - forcing drivers to pull over when somebody was coming the other way, he said.

A road in Temuka that is breaking up.

A road in Temuka that is breaking up. Photo: Supplied / Jeremy Talbot

Most worryingly, he said spoil was piling up on berms and preventing farmers from mowing them.

"We've got the fire risk but we've also got the constant risk of, if you've got long grass...some stock might settle down and disappear in to it and then somebody is driving along the road...[and the cows are] rushing out in to them and causing an accident. It's just totally unsafe."

Timaru District Council spokesperson Stephen Doran said a recent survey found 65 percent were happy with the condition of their unsealed roads and denied they were becoming narrower as graders by-passed, carving away encroaching berms.

But he acknowledged there was a problem with grader drivers leaving spill behind, making berms difficult to mow.

"We are just looking at what our contracted standards are and whether we can get our contractors to specifically change, whether that's small tweaks in behaviour or whether it's something we have to spell out a bit more."

'We expect them to clean it up'

Chief executive of neighbouring Waimate District Council, Stuart Duncan, admitted some of its metal roads were becoming narrower as a result of berm sliding on to the road, but said farmers driving over them or irrigators spraying water on them were sometimes to blame.

"The care of our roading requires everybody to have a bit of skin in the game, particularly farmers where they have farming activities on the road berms and are creating a bit of a mess....we expect them to clean it up.

"Now if they don't and other people traverse those roads they just think it's the council asleep at the wheel and it's not."

Mr Duncan said his council had just agreed to a 24-percent funding increase for roads and anticipated costs would continue to escalate as increasing numbers of heavy milk tankers and heavy tractors started to take a toll.

A Federated Farmers spokesperson Karen Williams said it was not just farm vehicles doing the damage, as shown in recent research from a former Federated Farmers president.

"He estimated that for an average 1000 hectare farm you could see about 35 truck movements per year, whereas a 1000 hectare forestry block you might see annual truck movements more in the order of 700. So quite different numbers and that leads to quite a different conversation about attributing fair cost."

Up to 60 percent of the cost of maintaining metal roads was picked up by the Transport Agency and Ms Williams was keen to talk with the agency about how they could be better maintained and who should fund this.