Sealing raises hackles in Mosgiel

Contractors resurface the Southern Motorway at Saddle Hill. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Contractors resurface the Southern Motorway at Saddle Hill. Photo by Gregor Richardson.

The New Zealand Transport Agency is promising to pay for the damage to vehicles after loose chip and tar from roadworks caused a "nightmare in Mosgiel'' yesterday.

The material was picked up by vehicles driving through roadworks on the Southern Motorway and carried through Mosgiel.

Mosgiel resident Mike Dalton said the "tar-covered'' vehicles sounded like "tanks'' going past his house on Gladstone Rd, and he had to rush to shift his truck to prevent it being covered.

"The whole of Gladstone Rd was covered [in stones] and the main street of Mosgiel was covered.

"I've never seen anything like it in my life.''

It created a "nightmare in Mosgiel'', with hundreds of vehicles affected.

"There must be hundreds and hundreds of people in Mosgiel with tar all over their vehicles.''

"Clearly [NZTA have] done something wrong,'' Mr Dalton said.

NZTA Coastal Otago maintenance contract manager Nick Rogers said through a spokeswoman the agency would "make good'' on the damage.

The agency had fielded "several'' calls from drivers by late yesterday afternoon.

"The contracting job was not done very well. There were technical issues with the resurfacing. The loose chip was carried past the end of the work, so what they've got to do is clean up where that chip has gone beyond the work site,'' Mr Rogers said.

Those affected should call NZTA on 0800 44 44 49.

eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz

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