Road maintenance season is under way in Northland
State highways across Northland will be repaired and re-sealed over coming months, as Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency’s spring/summer road maintenance programme gets under way.
Northland System Manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult said Waka Kotahi will be delivering a large amount of roadworks within the region this season to improve the roads, increase safety and make people’s journeys more enjoyable.
“Resealing starts this month and ramps up in October as the days become longer and warmer. The warmer weather helps the new seal stick to the road surface,” she said.
“The weather conditions are critical as was demonstrated earlier this year when the COVID-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown shut down Northland’s resealing programme. Once out of lockdown resealing resumed, but by then the weather had turned colder and compromised the new seal in some locations, leaving the bitumen exposed in areas such as on SH1 at Hikurangi and south of Wellsford.”
Road rehabilitation – where the road is dug up, repaired and re-laid as new – has been completed on SH12 at Selwyn Park in Dargaville and work is under way on SH14 at Paradise Road intersection.
Rehabilitation work is planned to continue in October and November on SH1 to the south of Whangarei around the Otaika Quarry and in Warkworth near the Hudson Road intersection, which will be done at night to minimise disruption to traffic. Also in October and November, there will be new asphalt laid on SH1 to the south of Warkworth.
In November and December there will be new chip seal on SH11 and SH14, and on sections of SH1 between Kawakawa and Warkworth. While this work will be largely done at night, motorists may experience some daytime delays.
Despite the significant roadworks programme, most work will stop before busy holiday travel periods like Labour weekend, Christmas and New Year, to minimise disruption to people’s journeys.
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️