Rural residents whose lives have been disrupted by a road closure outside Hamilton for more than two years deserve immediate action, Federated Farmers Waikato’s president says.
Keith Holmes says NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has been side-stepping its responsibility over Telephone Road for too long.
“These residents affected are innocent bystanders of a juggernaut of incompetence and lack of accountability from NZTA.
“Telephone Road should have been reopened months ago, but what we’ve seen is typical time-wasting from the bureaucrats.
“This sort of duck shoving behaviour needs to stop.”
Telephone Road, a section of State Highway 1B just east of Hamilton, has been closed since April 2022, when a truck struck and dislodged a section of rail at a crossing on the road.
With the risk of a train being derailed, NZTA and KiwiRail closed the crossing while it discussed the future of the intersection.
Traffic has been diverted for the last two years along nearby Holland, Waverley and Seddon Roads.
A farmer who lives on the road says the closure has been incredibly disruptive not only for the local community, but also for those travelling between Hamilton and towns to the east.
“It’s been closed for so long now,” says the farmer, who did not want to be named.
“It’s become a political football between Waka Kotahi and the Waikato District Council (WDC) on who’s going to pay for a solution.
“The diversion adds more than 40 minutes to trips in the tractor, and 20 minutes by car. It’s a real nuisance trying to get the kids to school or into town for groceries.”
The alternative roads run across peat country and they’re bumpy, despite some upgrading work funded by NZTA.
“You’ve got to be mindful of your speed. They’re just normal country roads without much leeway on them, so you’ve got to be careful passing other vehicles.
“Wear and tear from heavy vehicles diverting down those roads is tearing them to shreds,” the farmer says.
A community petition calling for the road to be reopened claims NZTA has forgotten its duty to taxpayers.
Waka Kotahi commissioned a report on future options for the road, which ranged from permanent closure of Telephone Road through to an $11m plan to reopen the road.
There were also options for creating a cul-de-sac and a level railway crossing for cyclists and pedestrians ($3.32 million) or putting in a roundabout ($11m).
“That’s complete drivel – an expensive prevarication at the expense of both the ratepayer and the taxpayer,” Holmes says.
“The local community don’t need another costly report – they need their road reopened.
“This is another case of bureaucratic cat and mouse, ignoring the plight of its stakeholders, Telephone Road residents, who are the trusting, innocent bystanders.
“In this case, NZTA is the ‘cat’ and the ‘bully’ because it has the biggest cheque book.”
With the opening of the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway, which has eased pressure on the diversion route, NZTA wants Telephone Road’s state highway status revoked.
That could mean WDC ratepayers end up paying at least half of the cost of future solutions.
“We’ve been pushing hard against that,” WDC infrastructure committee chair Eugene Patterson says.
“The closure of that road does split the community. It’s harder moving farm machinery and vehicles around, it adds to travel time and it has created problems for residents.”
Patterson says WDC is continuing to negotiate with NZTA to find a solution and get Telephone Road open “sooner rather than later”.
David Speirs, NZTA’s director of regional relationships for the Waikato, says any solution to reopen the railway crossing needs to satisfy KiwiRail’s safety requirements.
He says NZTA is committed to producing a practical and affordable solution to allow the road to reopen, and a bid for funding is included in the State Highway Investment Proposal released in April 2024.
However, as with rural and urban roads around New Zealand, funding and prioritisation will be considered by the NZTA Board in the National Land Transport Programme by 1 September 2024.
“If funded, detailed design, consenting, and property work will occur over the next few years, followed by construction, which will enable the road to reopen,” Speirs says.
Holmes says it all sounds like a lot of “mucking around” and incompetence by NZTA.
“They knew that rail crossing was a risk. NZTA should have done the forward-planning and budgeting much earlier.
“Waiting for more funding is an indulgent cop-out and the situation needs a quick resolution from NZTA.
“Otherwise, bring in a Ministerial review to show the obvious problem of poor leadership, planning and abuse of planning privilege by NZTA.
“Telephone Road residents deserve much better than this.”
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
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With our regular host Bryan Gibson still laid low with covid this week, senior journalist Richard Rennie talks to Federated Farmers board member and Leeston farmer David Birkett.
Birkett outlines concerns he has as a farmer, and as a spokesperson, about Health and Safety regulations that despite creating headaches for farmers needing to comply, have done little to bring down the incidence of on farm fatalities and injuries in the past decade.
With a review now underway, he is calling for more practical, shared rules and responsibilities around any new regulations arising from a government roadshow soon underway.
