A Clive Rd resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Herald it was the third rockfall he had seen at the site this year, with smaller rocks coming down in January and April.
“It’s not really a shock, it’s been ongoing” he said.
“There are massive basalt rocks falling down that side of that road and there are kids that walk up that road on a daily basis.
“It’s only a matter of time until someone gets killed.”
The fall followed a wet end to the week, with about 25mm of rain recorded in Auckland across Friday and Saturday.
Images show the gigantic boulder resting across a footpath and jutting out onto the road, surrounded by chunks of stone and debris.
The resident said he drove along Clive Rd about 10 minutes after the April rockfall.
“If I’d been 10 minutes earlier it would have landed on the car, so it would have killed me or my family.”
AT confirmed it was aware of earlier rockfalls at the location involving smaller stones.
“Volcanic stone fields such as this location are prone to shedding material from time to time,” a spokesman said.
Auckland Tranport estimated the boulder weighed between two and three tonnes. Photo / Kendyl Smith
The local resident’s concerns echo a public safety warning recorded by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority three years ago.
The authority’s 2023 Health and Safety Register recorded a complaint about a “large boulder which had come loose and was suspended over the road reserve on Clive Rd”.
The register identified the area in question as being within the road reserve and therefore AT’s responsibility and recorded a risk to vehicles and members of the public.
“Long term have requested that proactive structural work is undertaken on this area,” the register said.
AT confirmed no further work was carried out beyond removing the loose rock, clearing dead vegetation and branches and having consultants inspect the site for other potential hazards.
The boulder, which was removed on Monday, fell from the lower slopes of Mt Eden/Maungawhau onto Clive Rd.
A spokesman said the area sat within a Heritage New Zealand overlay, which restricted what AT could do without specific consent or oversight.
He said Heritage New Zealand wanted the maunga and its lower slopes to remain in their natural state with as little modification as possible.
AT said it had since carried out localised rock removal and vegetation work, but had not undertaken “wholesale removal of rock and other material of the maunga”.
A massive boulder crashed onto Clive Rd in Mt Eden.
However, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga told the Herald it had not been involved with AT regarding any work around Clive Rd and said the heritage overlay sat with the Auckland Council.
The council has been approached for comment.