Public meeting arranged over situation of Coromandel's State Highway network

Frustrations around on-going road closures, due to slips and drop-outs around the Coromandel's State Highway (SH25) network, has seen a public meeting being called in Coromandel Town next week.

The Coromandel Business Association has arranged the meeting, inviting New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) representatives to discuss the situation over slips along the Thames Coast Road (SH25) which has seen on-going road closures, affecting the upper Coromandel Peninsula for the past several months.

"We all want to work together, to plan the best way to resolve what is a huge issue across the Peninsula and a source of great frustration for us all," says Jan Autumn, from the Coromandel Business Association.

The meeting has the support from our Council, the Colville-Coromandel Community Board and the communities of the upper-Coromandel Peninsula and will be held Monday 31 July, 5.30pm at the Coromandel Town Citizen's Hall on Kapanga Rd.

"I encourage everyone to come and fill the Hall, to hear from NZTA what action is going to be done to fix the State Highway," says Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Sandra Goudie, who will also be at the meeting.

"I am also increasingly alarmed by the compromised condition of our State Highway, where we are potentially facing a district where a large proportion is isolated by the collapse of this road, with no access to the northern half of the district," says Mayor Sandra, who has written a letter to Transport Minister Simon Bridges to express her concerns.

"I've explained in my letter that we're disenfranchised by the current government funding policy, based on vehicle numbers, with no accommodation for our unique circumstance as a tourist and visitor destination," says Mayor Sandra. "I've also asked the Minister what is the government's commitment to ensuring the State Highway remains open."

You can view Mayor Sandra's interview with Newshub on the situation here.

In the past six months there have been several significant slips on the Thames Coast Rd, along with road drop outs between Thames and Coromandel Town and also on the Kopu-Hikuai Rd (SH25) at Pumpkin Hill between Tairua and Pauanui.

Meanwhile another slip on the Kopu-Hikuai Rd (SH25A) between Kopu and Whangamata earlier this week resulted in the road being closed for several days. Right now there is a road closure in place from 9am – 3pm, which returns to stop/go operation overnight. It's expected the road will be open to two lanes later this week. To get the latest updates on the State Highway road closures click here.

To keep up to date on state highway conditions, visit the NZTA website, call 0800 4 HIGHWAYS, or follow NZTA on Facebook and Twitter.

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