Sealing Rockell Road & Hailes Road: The Time Has Come

In the 1940's, users of Rockell Road used to have to open a farm gate to access Moureeses Bay and further North (photo, AI, don't get too excited it's not real)

“Not in my lifetime.” 

That was the answer my papa gave his 10-or-so year-old grandson, a young inquisitive Dallas, forty years ago when I asked whether the road to Moureeses would ever be sealed.  

He’s about to turn 97, so it turns out he is probably going to be right.

But surely it’s about time this bubbled to the top of the council agenda.

Rockell Road was put through by settlers to get to the beaches of Tauwhara, Moureeses Bay, Brookers and, Mr. Rockell, at the end of the road.  Papa remembers when there was a gate at the top of the hill with a cattle stop that you had to stop and open and close before continuing on.  Over the years there have been a few improvements.  Corners have been cut away, the road has been widened in parts, but it is still - in the main - the reasonably hairy ride it has always been.  And it is especially white-knuckled if you’re a tourist, more used to an Autobahn than a narrow metal road with blind corners and a sheer drop on the other side.

Then look at Hailes Road.  It’s not just a connection to-and-from Whananaki South, but it provides a pivotal route out of the district should the Cutting be blocked.  I can imagine a scenario similar to Helena Bay where we are trapped-in at the Cutting requiring a Kaiikanui-esque detour through Hailes to get to town.  How on earth would that goat track cope?  It’s the only secondary route out of Whananaki and often its condition is so bad it makes the road to Parea Parea look like Spaghetti Junction.

Often I think about how tangata whenua and settlers just got on with things.  Think about how hard it would’ve been to get power out here.  Think about the work involved in chiselling out the Cuttings -  both north and south sides.  They built a footbridge - twice, in fact.  Connected up the telephone.  Built the marae.  All these assets have served Whananaki well for more than 80 years, some almost 150.  They weren’t just built for their needs at the time, they were built with flex.  Investment in the future.

I’d be guessing, but I’d say the population north of the bridge at Otamure has quadrupled in the last 50 years.  Onekainga’s subdivision alone was a significant development.  Over summer, the road is busier than a mosquito at a nudist camp.  Near misses galore.  Plenty of cars have gone over the side over the years, some with tragic consequences.

Hailes too is not immune to safety problems and it is also prone to flooding.  That wouldn’t be resolved by sealing the road, but when prepping the road for seal they would need to  rebuild some culverts and remediate the road so some of that would have to be addressed.

The first road they’ll seal is Jubilee Road, finally connecting up the Tutukaka Coast properly with a decent track.  I understand that from a sheer traffic numbers perspective, but that road is wider and safer than both Hailes and Rockell.  That needs to be a consideration too.

I must say, the more I see Fulton Hogan work, the more I like them.  The resealing works coming into and past the village the last few months weren’t absolutely necessary, but they’ve done a pretty good job and there’s been minimal disruption, really.  And preventative sealing can’t be a bad thing, better than replacement at failure!

But here’s a fact.  

It’ll never be cheaper to seal Hailes Road and Rockell Road than it is today.  And there’ll never be less traffic.  I know many will think I’m dreaming.  But why can’t it happen?