With winter arriving, Auckland Transport (AT) is on the final stretch of its biggest annual road maintenance programme in seven years. 

Each year AT carries out work at hundreds of sites across Auckland’s growing 7500km road network. The bulk of this work is done over the summer season during the warm and dry weather conditions needed for road resurfacing. 

“We put in extra effort and resources this summer season to catch up on a growing backlog of road maintenance, which has been exacerbated by reduced funding and extreme weather,” AT Director Infrastructure and Place Murray Burt says.

Called the Summer Road Reno, AT’s commitment is to resurface 400km of roads by the end of its annual maintenance programme in June.

“We’ve resurfaced 385km of roads so far, which is further than the distance between Auckland and New Plymouth. It’s the most we’ve done in seven years, and we’ve had a lot of budget constraints since then,” Mr Burt says.

“There’s still a lot more to do if we had the resources, but the Summer Road Reno has been a great success, with more Aucklanders now being able to enjoy quality, safe roads.

“We’re really thankful for the patience that many road users have shown to our hardworking crews during this huge programme of work.”

More than 750 crew members have been busy working across the entire Auckland region during AT’s Summer Road Reno. While some jobs have been small, others have come with unique challenges.

Mr Burt says one example of this is Lincoln Rd in Henderson, where almost half a kilometre of the road needed rehabilitation. The five-lane road services a main hospital and is a key transport route in West Auckland. 

“The crew did a fantastic job, laying 360 truck-loads of asphalt and getting the job done three weeks ahead of schedule, which was a great outcome for everyone. The road was able to fully open earlier than anticipated meaning less disruption for West Auckland communities.”

By the end of its annual maintenance programme, AT also aims to have renewed 60km of footpaths and it has already exceeded its target to strengthen 40km of unsealed roads.

AT is also continuing its flood recovery programme, working on hundreds of sites that were impacted by the extreme weather events last year.

And how about those potholes? AT has resurfaced 385km of sealed roads so far. This works out to be 3,376,000m2 of road, or the equivalent of 34 sports stadiums like Eden Park. By resurfacing roads when needed and repairing faults when they arise, it minimises the amount of potholes that will occur. Prior to resurfacing, pre-seal repairs are undertaken, meaning that defects such as potholes were repaired prior to application of the new seal.

AT has strengthened 46km of unsealed roads that were in need of attention. AT has completed 51km of footpaths comprising an area of over 77,000m2. If an average driveway is 100m2 then we have completed 7,700 driveways. AT has replaced 42km of kerb and channel.