Bay of Plenty residents bumping over potholes recently are not alone. On the back of a wet winter, compared to the last three years, the country has endured a significant increase potholes.

Waka Kotahi/NZTA suggests a 'current combination of network conditions and the wet winter” has caused the sudden rise, with drivers both local and across the country voicing their frustrations.

'Water is the primary cause of potholes. If there is a crack in the road surface, or a displaced stone, it will allow water to sit in the road surface. As vehicles drive over the ponding water, tyres create hydraulic pressure, forcing the water down into the pavement,” says an NZTA spokesperson.

'Over time, as vehicles continue to run over the pothole, it will grow in size as weakened areas break off. Sections of road that are due for renewal are often the worst affected areas as the pavement and surface are weaker and starting to fail.”

Road safety campaigner Geoff Upson says the problem lies with road maintenance, as 'it doesn't take a genius” for someone to notice when a road is on the brink of having a pothole outbreak.

'NZTA blaming weather is them dodging responsibility,” says Geoff.

'The potholes are everywhere, and NZTA doesn't want to fix them. I think they're trying to find excuses to be honest.

'If you own a house, and the roof needs painting this year but you don't have any money, you don't paint the roof. In the meantime it just looks ugly for a while, but if you left it for 10 years, it will rust out and you will have to get an entirely new roof.

'This is called ‘sweating the assets' and it is something NZTA has done too far to the roads.

'They've pushed out the maintenance to save a bit of money, but now the potholes are starting to form. Potholes will always be an issue, but we are at the point now where we are seeing huge numbers of them since the road has been left to degrade beyond what is appropriate,” says Geoff.

'We knew there would be potholes because of the way they left the road at the end of last summer. 'The only way to prevent the potholes is to do preventative maintenance on the asphalt or chipseal. You can't just leave an umbrella on the road to stop the rain from getting on it.

'They have a big file of all of these defects that will be a problem for road users in future, but nobody does anything about it, because it costs money and the Government doesn't want to spend it on that.”

NZTA says they are investing $2.8 billion into 'state highway and road maintenance” across the 2021-2024 National Land Transport programme.

'This summer will see an approximately 2450 lane kilometres of state highway resealed or rebuilt, the largest ever programme Waka Kotahi has undertaken,” says the NZTA spokesperson.

Geoff says despite the NZTA statement, he doesn't see the problem being fixed 'any time soon.”

'We've had too many broken promises. I genuinely don't believe they are going to do anything,” says Geoff.

'Just because they throw another few billion into the roads that doesn't necessarily mean it will get the actual road surface.”