Road relief in sight for unhappy rural residents | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

People living near Waihau and Patoka lobbying for an upgrade to their rural roads could have their wishes granted this year.

Judy and Mark Nelson, John Kamp, Steven Horgan and Phil McGrath wrote to the Hastings rural community board on behalf of people living on Price-Cockburn Rd, Waihau Rd and Hawkston Rd, about 30km west of Napier.

They claimed the introduction of dairy production 17 years ago had resulted in an increase in heavy traffic using rural roads in their community.

"As we write, numerous silage trucks are serving two of these farms. As these roads are also a school bus route, safety is a huge concern to us all," the letter says.

The residents felt there had been a "serious lack of consideration" given to the roads in terms of putting them into a top priority for the Hastings District Council's seal extension programme.

They recognised dairy as a major economic contributor to the region which should add weight to "address the unsealed roads in our area".

The rural community board met this week to discuss funding for roading projects over the next 10 years.

Initially no money had been set aside for any seal extension work.

But transportation operations manager Les Glock told the meeting he had managed to allocate $60,000 which would go towards improvements at Waihau Rd.

Cr Tania Kerr, who is responsible for the Mohaka ward covering Waihau, said at least one person had wanted a total upgrade of the road while others wanted it to be either sealed or widened.

Mr Glock and Mrs Kerr planned to visit Waihau Rd residents before Easter to see what the priorities were and the money available for the work.

To date, this financial year, the council had spent $650,000 on repairing road damage caused by the storm events of April 2011 and last month.

A survey of the roading network had identified 166 dropouts which still required repair work.

The council planned to use money from its rural flood damage reserve fund and apply to the New Zealand Transport Agency for additional funding.