\u201cWe are booked up for the next two weeks. I\u2019ve never seen so many cars damaged from one section of roadworks.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for CHB Glass said it had at least eight requests to fix damaged windscreens in one day, which was unusual.<\/p>\n
Central Hawke\u2019s Bay Mayor Will Foley said he was aware of the community\u2019s concerns and frustration about the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have passed the feedback to NZTA and will meet with MP Mike Butterick about the situation,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n
Sam Johnstone, who lives on SH2, drove through the roadworks on Saturday and now needs a new windscreen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a 30km\/h speed sign, but no one was going that fast and still, stone chips were flying everywhere.<\/p>\n
Sam Johnstone said he removed at least two shovel loads of stones from his car\u2019s inner guards, suspension and brakes after driving over roadworks on State Highway 2, Waipawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was doing 15km\/h when the first stone hit my windscreen. I dropped right back, but still got hit by a second flying stone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest muck-up I\u2019ve ever seen on a stretch of roadworks, and I\u2019ve seen a few.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past year, roadworks have been ongoing almost continuously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnstone said his family had lived in the area for generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve basically been here forever, and my granddad is so proud of the town. That\u2019s why I\u2019m so invested in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to help work toward a solution because we can\u2019t just keep going around in circles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnstone said he had also removed at least two shovel loads of stones from his car\u2019s inner guards, suspension and brakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still need to remove the side skirts. They are full of stones as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
He put in a request to NZTA for compensation, but it was declined.<\/p>\n
The letter from a customer relations adviser said NZTA had carried out a full review.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur investigation found that Higgins has acted reasonably and diligently in managing the work site where the damage occurred to your vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n
It went on to say the agency was unable to compensate for the damage \u201cas Higgins fulfilled its obligations to maintain a safe worksite\u201d.<\/p>\n
Johnstone said he had resubmitted his claim.<\/p>\n
The nightwork was funded by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and done by Higgins as its maintenance and operations contractor.<\/p>\n
NZTA\u2019s Hawke\u2019s Bay\/Tair\u0101whiti system manager, Martin Colditz, said the work involved a second coat of sealing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt follows the rebuild of this stretch of road that was carried out in March last year and some pre-seal repairs completed in December, ahead of the second coat seal,\u201d Colditz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cApplying a second coat seal a few months to a year after the initial sealing work is standard practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we rebuild a section of the road and apply a chipseal finish, we need to come back later to carry out a second coat seal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis locks in the seal to make it waterproof, keeps it stronger and safer for longer, and helps reduce the likelihood of flushing occurring. This was indicated at the time of the initial rebuild of this stretch of road and communicated in advance of the work beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said chipseal needed to be laid in warm, dry months so it becomes strong and long-lasting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can crack in cold weather, and wet conditions affect the bond between the bitumen and the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the work was crucial, and there was always a risk of loose stones flicking up, so it was important to follow the lower speed limit and not follow closely behind vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, even if you\u2019re travelling at or below the temporary speed, if the person in front isn\u2019t, then stones will easily flick up and that\u2019s when the damage, especially to windscreens, can occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Higgins declined to comment.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are booked up for the next two weeks. I\u2019ve never seen so many cars damaged from one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,33846,1561,10166,11776,1853,2741,4381,17153,6183,9637,305,1976,26755,111,43,139,69,42917,72160,39574,51212,13672,11584,1361,210,2951,64626,3608,76785,154065],"class_list":["post-272788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-along","tag-bay","tag-businesses","tag-busy","tag-central","tag-claim","tag-customers","tag-damaged","tag-dozens","tag-glass","tag-have","tag-hawkes","tag-highway","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-repair","tag-replaced","tag-roadworks","tag-shops","tag-state","tag-stretch","tag-that","tag-through","tag-town","tag-waipawa","tag-were","tag-windscreen","tag-windscreens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}