The 2025-26 reseal season has wrapped up, and it’s been a big one. This year the Alliance completed a record programme, delivering over 505,000 square metres of reseals - that’s close to 100 rugby fields - covering 82.6 km of road and using around 1.6 million litres of bitumen. Alongside this, the rehabilitation team completed work on 10 sites, improving 4.45 km of road, with one site carried forward into next season.

These programmes are all about keeping our network safe, reliable and cost-effective. Every road in the district is regularly inspected, and decisions about where work happens are based on things like traffic levels, road condition and long-term value for money. That’s why we don’t always fix the worst-looking roads first - often, it’s smarter to treat roads earlier to prevent much bigger (and more expensive) problems later.

Looking ahead to 2026-27

Planning is already well underway for the coming season. We’re expecting:

Around 5.7 km of rehabilitations (approx. $3.75M)

Around 84 km of reseals (approx. $5.8M)

This is a larger than typical season due to remaining work on the Saddle Road and Pahiatua Track.

Smarter investment for better roads

Tararua Alliance recently become the first road controlling authority in New Zealand to achieve ISO 55001 certification for asset management. In simple terms, this means we’re taking a more structured, data-driven approach to how and when we invest in our roads. So what does this mean for our reseals and road rehabilitations?

Better value for the community

For example, on Tamaki River Road, continuing with reactive patching over time would cost about $550,000 over 40 years. By renewing the road at the right time, that cost drops to around $260,000: a saving of roughly $290,000, along with fewer disruptions and a longer-lasting road.

This approach lines up with national thinking. The New Zealand Infrastructure Plan highlights that around 60% of infrastructure investment should go into maintaining and renewing existing assets, rather than building new ones.

For Tararua, that means focusing on looking after the roads we already have, fixing them at the right time, getting the most life out of each investment, and making every ratepayer dollar count.

We know it can be frustrating if your road isn’t included in a given year. Our goal is to provide the best overall outcome for the whole road network with the funds we have available. The full list of roads that will be in the 2026-2027 reseals programme will be published on the Council website ahead of the season kicking off in September: Roading | Tararua District Council