Protruding nails and screws are a common sight on some of the footpaths on Titirangi roads. Photo: Supplied / LDR
Dangerous, cracked footpaths in the Auckland beachside community of Titirangi are finally being fixed - to the relief of a resident who has campaigned for the repairs for years.
Titirangi resident Zoe Hawkins said she's been trying for years to get Auckland Transport (AT) to deal with footpaths on Wood Bay Rd, Otitori Bay Rd, Tanekaha Rd and Kohu Rd.
"The fact that it's taken 10 years for the action to happen is unfortunate," Hawkins said.
"I hope that their commitment to address this for Waitākere Ranges is something they follow through on."
The footpaths, wooden and concrete, have been deteriorating for years and caused some residents to hurt themselves.
Areas on the concrete path were cracked and uneven, the wooden board walks were slippery, had rotting wood, some with holes and loose mesh netting.
The state of the footpaths was so bad that it wasn't ideal for wheelchairs and baby strollers, and often forced pedestrians to walk on the roads.
In the last month, AT has done some maintenance work, focused on Tanekaha Rd, with some minor repairs to other board walks and footpaths in the Titirangi area.
Resident Zoe Hawkins said AT did a shoddy work covering up a hole in one of the wooden paths on Tanekaha Rd. Photo: Stuff / Torika Tokalau
Hawkins, with a few residents and members of the Waitākere Ranges Local Board, sat down with AT this month to discuss their concerns.
She said residents' found 60 issues on Titirangi footpaths, from road slumps that looked like they could fail at any moment, to loose netting.
"No wooden footpaths were loaded into AT's asset management system and this is why they haven't been attended to for years.
"All paths (wooden and otherwise) in the Waitākere Ranges heritage area will be checked over and loaded into the AT system now. These will clearly take time but all going well, result in a plan moving forwards."
Local board chairperson and Titirangi resident Greg Presland said a part of the problem was that AT did not know where their assets were.
"The footpaths are not up to scratch, and it's been like that for decades."
An AT spokesperson said its main focus for maintenance and repair has been on the wooden boardwalk on Tanekaha Road.
"We found approximately 19 issues that needed repairs, over a 600-metre section of Tanekaha Road," AT said.
Urgent issues on that road have been fixed and focus was now on repairs which included the removal and replacement of bolts, bearers and running boards, installation of anti-skid mesh, wooden ramp removal and replacement of broken timber.
This would cost $56,000.
"AT is happy to carry out maintenance as and when required, but we do rely on support from the public who can help us with specific reports of problems they encounter."
Hawkins said it was great to get an acknowledgement from AT that their area was overlooked in their system and work was now under way.
"While encouraging, its early steps and I am worried that this will fall through the cracks again, especially as all the years of catch up will need to be resourced."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
