State of our roads - public roading forum in September

Public roading forum

The state of the roading network around the Coromandel will be the focus of a public forum being held early next month.

The forum's been arranged by our Mayor Sandra Goudie and is an opportunity for the public to meet with agencies including the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to discuss planned maintenance and priorities for future improvements to the Coromandel's State Highway network (SH25 and SH25a).

"Recently the Coromandel Business Association hosted a similar public meeting at Coromandel Town, inviting 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," says Mayor Sandra.

"This roading public forum will be along similar lines, but will encompass the entire district roading network, not just the Thames Coast Rd," says Mayor Sandra.

The public forum is on Wednesday 6 Septmeber 5.30pm at the Thames Civic Centre (Conference Room), Mary St, Thames

NZTA works programme

NZTA has started work on building one of the two retaining walls required on Pumpkin Hill, north of Tairua, following a drop-out earlier this year after heavy rain.

The second retaining wall should be underway soon, along with a culvert replacement near the Colenso cafe.

Meanwhile the retaining wall under construction at Kereta Hill should be completed by the end of next week.

Additionally several other resilience projects are planned around the rest of the Coromandel over the next year designed to both protect the road and reduce the risk of rock falls.

• SH25A near Kopu, retaining wall

• Boundary Creek, rock protection wall

• Kereta Hill, retaining wall (section 2)

• Whangapoua Hill, retaining walls at two sites

• Kuaotunu Hill, retaining walls at two sites

Coromandel Gold Rush Rally this weekend.

This weekend, roads around the Coromandel-Colville and Mercury Bay wards will be used for the Coromandel Gold Rush Rally of NZ.

The forestry roads that have been used in previous years are unavailable due to harvesting, so a new route has been drawn up which involves racing around the northern parts of the Coromandel.

Road closures are in place on Saturday 26 August with more than 60 rally cars expected to be competing in what is round six of the 2017 Brian Green Property Group NZ Rally Championship.

This year's Coromandel Gold Rush rally will be particularly special with NZ and World Rally motorsport icon Hayden Paddon racing.

Meanwhile, the Mercury Bay Multi-Sports Park in Whitianga will be Rally Headquarters for the weekend, as it has been on the previous occasions. Spectators are welcome to come and view the cars and crews up close as they come in for servicing, before heading into the Whitianga Town Centre for the ceremonial finish later in the afternoon.

To read the full list of road closures click here.

ENDS

© Scoop Media