Tararua Alliance is chip sealing almost 60km of our sealed road network and will be working on 20 roads. The roading team will mainly be working under Stop/ Go and there may be some road closures. Work will be posted on the weekly roading update on Tararua District Council’s Facebook page.

To drive safely through a chip seal site, please slow down – 30km/hr is the golden speed. Too fast and you’ll rip up the road, too slow and the road will stick to you.

Tararua Alliance will also be rebuilding seven sections of five roads, with work starting in early November: Route 52 Section 109 (Pongaroa), Top Grass Road, Tamaki River Road, Kumeroa Road and Ormondville Te Uri Road.

Pavement rehabilitation is a full-width upgrade of a road that’s reached the end of its life. This involves a comprehensive overhaul, digging out worn-out sections, installing or renewing drainage, road shaping, compacting and sealing.

It’s like a full makeover, rather than a patch repair. If you have an old weatherboard house, you can only repaint and fix small sections so many times.

Eventually, the boards wear out and need to be replaced. Roads are the same - after several rounds of minor repairs and resurfacing, the road gets to a point where it needs a more serious fix.

In New Zealand, rural roads are designed to last about four or five resurfacing cycles, which usually adds up to 30 to 40 years. But this can vary depending on things like how the road was originally constructed, the local soil conditions and how much traffic the road gets. Roads are selected for rehabilitation based on several factors, including their age and condition, where they are, and how they are used. Learn more at www.tararuadc.govt.nz/2026-27-reseals