Going the extra mile to fix roads

KING Country road crews went the extra mile in the aftermath of recent heavy rains and adverse weather events, with Inframax staff drawing particular praise.  

Urgent work is needed when heavy rains and extreme weather events cause inundation, flooding, slips and fallen trees and debris to block roads, Inframax  Construction divisional manager Yusuf Onundi said.  

In Waitomo, Ruapehu, Ōtorohanga and Taupō regions, the company relied on teams available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep roads safe and open for motorists.

“Events such as Cyclones Dovi, Gabrielle and Hale require all hands on deck and (if need be) staff must sometimes work on weekends, public holidays and during the night,” Yusuf said.  

“We are conscious this takes them away from family and friends and, when on standby, limits their activities and travel away to ensure they are fit for work and ready to respond within our contracted timeframes.    

“Managing fatigue, particularly during these sorts of events, is especially important and working hours and physical signs of fatigue are a high priority to be monitored.

“Our dedicated team are passionate about reopening roads back to being safe and fully functional.  

“Most of our team members live locally within the network. We don’t only sympathise with locals when roads are closed; we also empathise with them. Love for the communities we serve and live in keep the teams motivated.”  

Effective and efficient delivery of services required experienced and skilled field crews; people with intimate knowledge of the roading networks they care for. Teams also attended crashes, keeping roads safe while emergency services did their job.  

“When it comes to slips, our team are often the first to respond. Our people attend jobs in vehicles equipped with the tools and equipment to do an initial response and to assess the condition of slips and the state of the affected road,” Yusuf said.    

“When there are large weather bombs that come through – such as that at the end of January, the impacts to the network and volume of work can be numerous and widespread. In the case of these events, a control centre comes together to lead the response and ensure seamless, quick and effective communication with our customers, call-out crews and subcontractors.”    

Control centres prioritised works, deployed resources and ensured customers, communities and motorists were informed of closures and re-openings. The over-arching priority was to keep Inframax staff and the wider community and motorists safe.

“Our people are heros in these types of events and we know the communities they work in are just as grateful and appreciative of their hard work as we are,” Yusuf said.

Meanwhile, King Country mayors have also lauded Inframax and Lines Company crews, plus their own council workers, for putting in long hours and enduring personal hardships following the weather events.    

Waitomo Mayor John Robertson said council staff in all parts of the organisation did everything they could to provide support and service to the community through storm events of the past weeks.  

“Their commitment and dedication has been most impressive. True public service,” John said.

“When Waitomo declared a state of emergency almost three weeks ago, some became civil defence officers, working through the night. Our water engineers worked on the stormwater network, supported by council contractors. Our roading engineers worked alongside our road maintenance contractor, Inframax. And our coms officer has worked tirelessly.

“It’s been a “roll up your sleeves and get stuck in” response.  The other impressive thing about the civil defence emergency was the inter-council support. Ōtorohanga, Waipā, and Waitomo Councils managed the civil defence exercise as if they were one council, together and seamlessly. A great example of a part of our region managing the emergency themselves.

“I am not suggesting central government agencies have not been there for us also. Police and MSD for instance have supported our community from the beginning. No hesitation,” John said.

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said that Council contractors did an amazing job cleaning up after Gabrielle.  

“While Ruapehu luckily escaped the worst of it, the rain and high winds on top of already saturated ground caused some issues with downed trees and slips.

“Our contractors worked quickly to restore and maintain community lifelines such as the road network. I would also like to acknowledge The Lines Company and Powerco teams who were out in very challenging conditions working tirelessly to ensure our communities had power.”

Otorohanga Mayor Max Baxter’s thoughts and best wishes were with the communities impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.  

“We are fortunate that our district weathered the storm relatively well,” Max said.

“With a great collective of councils from western Waikato (Waipa, Waitomo and Ōtorohanga) working together in the civil defence emergency management space we were well positioned to respond to what may have been.  

“Thank you to all the many people who come together during Cyclone Gabrielle and the other various weather events of recent. We are lucky to live in such a great community.”