The issue of hot summer temperatures causing the bitumen on roads to melt is covered in this story on the Stuff website from a few days ago.
While having one of our occasional chats with Lee Amor of the Cruise Shop in Waikanae, he said that Asian countries have much hotter temperatures than we do but don’t have the problem of melting roads (Australia doesn’t either). When he asked someone in Downer why that was, the admission was, “Oh that’s deliberate, so that we can go and redo the surfaces.” In other words a guarantee of work. The compound used in NZ will likely melt over 33ºC ambient temperature.
That in our view is something that requires a government inquiry. We’ve already seen the problem of the ‘Ewy’ surface prematurely deteriorating, and while it is an incentive to use the railways instead, it is not good value for taxpayers.
We had this in the uk, they’re using inferior road products and it’s got to stop, let’s not have politicians lining the pockets of their business buddies in this manner. There are enough bad roads that need work or even sealing without them cutting corners at the taxpayers expense just so they can make an easy buck. This is a really bad slippery slope that New Zealand needs to get off. Now.