Update (20th Feb.) from Waitakere Ranges Local Board
Comms Update 20th February 2023
West Auckland
Update on progress over the weekend:
We have carried on working through the weekend on Lone Kauri Road and Karekare Road. Progress is slow and at this stage, we don’t have a completion date.
A checkpoint was established on Piha Road to enable residents and approved contractors to restrict access to the public. The checkpoint will not be operating during the week but will be reinstated if requested by Auckland Emergency Management for the coming weekend.
Checkpoint at Piha
Work continued over the weekend on clearing slips on McEldowney Road and the large slip at 460 Scenic Drive. An entry was cleared at 400 Scenic Drive where the road reserve had blocked a driveway. The slip blocking the footpath and pushing students out onto Godley Road was also cleared over the weekend.
Ventia/AT supported Auckland Council in providing traffic management to assist with the pumping out of flood waters at North Piha and Garden Road Piha.
Over the weekend work continued installing bunds to protect slip faces on Bethells Rd, Scenic Drive and West Coast Rd. Of note is that the large tree blocking Huia Road just beyond the Huia Fire station was removed over the weekend.
Tree on Huia Road
Tree Trunk relocated
What’s happening this week:
Signs are being arranged to help with informing the public where roads are closed, and access is limited.
Signs will be located at each end of Mountain Road saying Road closed, resident access only. At the bottom of West Coast Road and Forest Hill Road, signs will advise that there is no access to Piha and Karekare via this route.
Now that larger slips have been contained and signposted crews are returning to the urban areas to clean up the multitude of smaller slips that remain.
Over the next two weeks, crews will be clearing vegetation from the roadside and where this material is put through a chipper this will be left in convenient locations for residents to utilize as mulch in their gardens.
Now that we have more settled weather Auckland Transport is moving into the recovery phase. We have been working hard to restore roads as soon as possible. However, not all sites will be able to be repaired quickly with some repairs likely to take many months. To keep you and our communities updated with progress on sites that will have long term repair programmes we are setting up a website that will go live from 17/02/23. This site will provide up to date information about what phase the repair is for these roads and predicted timeframes for completion. You will notice that some roads will drop off the list as more information is available from our contractors. They will be undertaking a full assessment and determining whether sites will be repaired quickly or need longer term assessment, investigation and repairs.
The work to assess roads and start the enabling works for repair is not always visible to the public, so we want to reassure them that the work is progressing as quickly as possible.
This site will:
· Provide a list of roads that have been identified with issues, but not yet fully investigated to understand the repair timeframe.
· Provide expected timeframes for each phase through from investigation to repair and completion.
· Be constantly updated with new information as it comes to hand from our contractors to provide re-assurance that work is underway even if workmen are not actually on-site.
· Provide you the information needed to inform your communities of progress.
We anticipate that the list of roads will decrease quickly following further site investigations. The site will remain live throughout this recovery process to full completion. As this is a new site and we will have a continual improvement lens we welcome feedback to enhance the information and ensure it is relevant for you and your communities. We will be doing our best to ensure that the information on the site is as accurate and as timely as possible, but as the situation is likely to change quickly there may be some lag time for the updates.
Please find the link below that will take you directly to the webpage and feel free to share with your communities.