It’s been two years since complaints poured in from drivers about a highway blemish and the problem still remains largely unresolved.
Weeds sprouting along State Highway 6 including on islands near the Quarantine Rd roundabout were creating eyesores for commuters and more concerns with the overgrowth have been raised with the Nelson App this week.
One driver says she even sighted someone hacking away the vegetation themselves recently, presumably disgruntled with delays.
The stretch of highway is NZTA Waka Kotahi’s to maintain, not the local councils, and Top of the South system manager Rob Service says recent funding changes means changes to the level of service it can provide for weed and vegetation control.
He says weeding and mowing has moved to an annual programme, with the Nelson corridor scheduled for early December.
“We would expect this to take around two weeks to complete. However, vegetation maintenance will be prioritised where it is deemed a safety concern,” he says.
“In the top of the South Island, $147 million will be invested in the region’s state highways over the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme period.
“$51 million will be spent on maintaining state highway assets, and $96 million is ringfenced for state highway pothole prevention.”
Rob says specific costs for individual maintenance works including weed control could not be provided due to its performance-based approach used with its local contractor.
“NZTA Waka Kotahi and our road maintenance suppliers will use available funding as efficiently as possible,” he says.
“For example, we will carry out litter collection and/or other services when lanes or roads are closed for other works.
“State Highway 6 is a busy arterial route and traffic management is required to keep road crews safe when such maintenance work is carried out.”
Rob says it was assessing locations where hard surfaces, such as concrete or asphalt, could mitigate weed and other vegetation problems.
“Larger sites, such as roundabouts, are more challenging as any change to a permanent hard surface will likely have a significant cost [because of the construction involved],” he says.
“Previous feedback from the community is that they are not generally supportive of permanent hard surfaces.”
As for the weed hacker, Waka Kotahi does not expect or encourage residents or road users to take matters into their own hands.
It says if anyone has an issue with the state highway network, they can contact 0800 44 44 49 to log a service request.
