Coast road speed restrictions due to end on Friday

Motorists experiencing painfully longer journeys than usual especially during peak times on the Whitford-Maraetai Road over the past three days have another two days to endure.

A 30km/h speed restriction has been in place on about a 1km section of the busy arterial route connecting Whitford and Beachlands Maraetai since Monday.

The normal speed limit between Whitford and the Pohutukawa Coast is 80km/h.

Over the past three days, long, slow moving queues of vehicles have formed in the morning driving away from Beachlands Maraetai, and towards it in the late afternoon-early evening.

Auckland Transport road maintenance group manager, Alan Wallace, has told the Times this Wednesday afternoon: “At this stage the temporary speed limit is planned to be lifted by Friday, March 28.

“Following new seal being laid, it’s standard for a temporary speed limit to be put in place to keep people and their vehicles safe.

“There needs to be some loose chip left on new seals to move around and fill gaps, and vehicles travelling at speed can damage the new seal until the chip is fully bedded down.

“Sweeping and line marking also needs to be completed before the temporary speed limit and signs/cones can be fully removed,” Wallace says.

“We’re working to minimise disruption by getting as much of this done as possible overnight.”

Wallace says Auckland’s roads need to be resurfaced regularly to maintain the surface skid resistance and to protect the underlying pavement from deterioration due to water ingress.

“The best time to resurface roads is before they show signs of deteriorating, to extend the lifespan of the road pavement and to prevent issues like potholes which we know are a nuisance to Aucklanders.

“Sealed roads require periodic resurfacing to keep the top surface waterproof and prevent water getting into the underlying road pavement.

“While a road may look to be in good condition, if it isn’t periodically resealed, cracks will form, water ingress and potholing will occur, and it’ll be much more expensive and disruptive to fix and maintain,” says Wallace.

“This is why we have a scheduled resurfacing programme and this year we’re resurfacing over 400km of roads as part of our annual Summer Road Reno.”