The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is saying sorry to travellers held up for lengthy periods by roadworks in the Buller Gorge and near Reefton, with no warning of the delays.
Inangahua Community Board chairwoman Linda Webb raised the problem at the board’s meeting this week.
"My kids missed most of their dance class in Westport on Monday because we were held up for 40 minutes by roadworks in the gorge.
"There was no signage, no warning for people heading that way — nothing. Just this huge queue of traffic and frustrated people getting out of their cars, trying to find out what was going on."
Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine said he had struck the same problem getting down to Reefton for his regular "mayor in the chair" session and the community board meeting on Tuesday.
"If you’re wondering why the room’s not set up and where the usual staff are, they’ve been held up by the same thing," he told board members.
The two staff arrived just as the meeting started.
Mrs Webb said there had also been no warning of delays on Buller Rd last weekend, when contractors were resealing the highway on the northern approaches to Reefton.
"It was a really busy weekend on the Coast with Wildfoods and a music festival at Inangahua and people were kept waiting in their cars for 20 minutes at a time — again with no signs and nothing on the NZTA [Waka Kotahi] website," she said.
There had been a possible detour which was also unadvertised.
"I rang the NZTA 0800 number that night and they said they knew nothing about the roadworks. On Wednesday I got the council staff to ring Waka Kotahi and they were told the contractors hadn’t notified them they’d be working."
That had caused real inconvenience for people and was poor service, Mrs Webb said.
NZTA West Coast maintenance contract manager Moira Whinham offered her apologies to the people who were held up.
"We were made aware of the delays in the Buller Gorge on Tuesday and we’re working closely with our rock-scaling contractor to resolve this and ensure this doesn’t recur."
There were several maintenance work sites in the Buller Gorge as road crews completed work from earlier in the construction season because of increased coal truck traffic, while the Tawhai rail tunnel was rebuilt.
"We acknowledge that this results in cumulative delays through the Buller Gorge and appreciate road users’ patience while we complete this work and work with our new teams to ensure all works and sites are properly notified."
The long waits in Reefton last week had been caused by crews having to work on Saturday to finish the job, Ms Whinham said.
"Resealing work was scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately the online notifications were not updated when the work period was extended."
There had been 20-minute delays for periods on Saturday while bitumen was sprayed, she confirmed.
"Although this is allowed under the contract and will happen from time to time, we understand why people would have liked forewarning," Ms Whinham said.
By Lois Williams
