Road works not up to standard

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 538, 12 July 1994, Page 4

Road works not up to standard

At their meeting in Taumarunui Friday 24 June, Ruapehu District Council chief executive Cliff Houston told councillors that it was the responsibility of council to set performance standards for its contractors but it was an internal matter for those sub-contractors to ensure they meet those standards. This was in response to "strong concerns" which had been expressed by the Road Transport Association about the state of "many rural road crossfalls and deep watertables". The report of Ruapehu District Council technical services director Bruce Dobson listed the responsibilities of the roading contract of Ruapehu Construction Ltd. These included the need to carry out the shape grading of roads in summer or early autumn (November - April) while the roads are reasonably dry and any mud will dry up quickly . The report goes on to say that while grader drivers have been carrying out this work recently they have: □ Cut water tables deeper rather than merely clearing them □ Created crossfalls which in some cases

were up to or over 10% (the contract specifies between 3-5%) □ Carried out some of the work in May and June. The result of this incorrectly-performed work was that in maiiy cases the roads became difficult to drive on because: □ The roads and road edges were too steep □ There was a deep ditch at the edge of the road. □ The road was effecti vely made one- way as a result. □ Where the work was carried out in April and May the roads became slushy. The report stated that it was probable that Ruapehu Construction Ltd grader drivers thought they had been doing a good job relying on 'eye-ometers' to create the crossfalls and that their supervising engineers probably did not recognise the significance of the way the work was done until problems started to occur. The Ruapehu District Council Engineering Counsultancy unit has now purchased digital read-out spirit levels which should allow for an accurate check on crossfalls but, unfortunately,

it is now too late to correct the problem at this time of year, the council heard. The problems that have been experienced have highlighted the fact that many local rural roads are well below the minimum width standards recommended in the Guide to the Design of Rural Roads published by the former National Roads Board and New Zealand Counties Association in 1966. The report concluded with the recommendation that the possibility of widening a number of metalled carriageways where they are considered inadequate for traffic volumes and where necessary to obtain adequate road drainage should be investigated.