A woman is frustrated with the Clutha District Council as she struggles to get a straightforward response about a road safety issue.
Milton and Toko Mouth local Regula Fischli lives on Akatore Rd, which she and others claim is ‘‘dangerous’’, and she has been sending numerous emails to the council, which she says has struggled to answer her concerns specifically regarding the road.
‘‘The road is extremely dangerous and it has many dangerous corners and potholes that need to be taken care of by grading more frequently than they have been.’’
Ms Fischli said she had stopped at about eight different properties to gather opinions on the quality of the road and all residents had shared their frustrations with each other.
‘‘There is not just myself upset with the road. If you ask many others that live on the road they will say the same thing,’’ she said.
Ms Fischli has sent more than 20 emails in the past 10 months. She hoped to give the council a heads up that the road needed more maintenance. But she became frustrated and irritated with the lack of response.
She said the council replied on May 30 this year and stated that the road was graded a certain number of times each year, and the road was not eligible for sealing due to its low usage.
Ms Fischli was especially concerned for the bus picking up children every day for school, as it was ‘‘only a matter of time before something bad happened’’.
Asked for comment, a council spokesperson said ‘‘there were no issues identified that would not normally be expected from time to time on unsealed roads in a rural district’’.
‘‘There are a couple of sections of corrugations on the hills that will be graded next time the grader is due on this road.’’
The spokesperson said the road was scheduled to be graded five times a year — nearly twice the average grading cycle in the district.
‘‘The Clutha District has an unsealed roading network of 2000km and it is important for drivers to travel at a safe and appropriate speed on all roads. We would encourage people to use our Antenno system on their smartphones to report issues on our roads or other council services.’’
Another Milton resident, who did not wish to be named, said his concerns were that the corrugations in the roads were not being graded enough, and workers were just ‘‘scraping enough off the top and being on their way’’.
He said he sustained a $500 damage repair bill on the suspension on his truck from travelling on a road between Kaitangata and Toko Mouth and was informed that 90% of the damage was due to extreme corrugations on the road.
Ms Fischli said ultimately she hoped the council would begin to spend more money on road safety projects outside of Balclutha.
