Some $7.3 millions of council and Waka Kotahi funding was poured into the district’s 670 kilometers of sealed and unsealed roads in the year to June 2025.
This spending also covers 140 bridges, 65 kilometers of footpaths, 2,600 culverts, 96 kilometers of concrete channels, 4,300 signs, 915 streetlights, 844 sumps and soak pits – and more.
Damage from storms and flooding has been a critical issue for users, so how satisfied are they with the roads? The council’s Annual Residents Survey shows:
Urban Martinborough roads drew a slightly improved 40% satisfaction rating; footpaths won a steady 36% approval, but rural road approval was down at 28% – with potholes, narrow roads and “inconsistent maintenance” all key bugbears.
“The roads disintegrate easily with early potholes, get filled, then three weeks later are back to being very dangerous,” one resident told council.
Council responded by securing two years of extra road repair funding “enabling (it) to accelerate upgrades to footpaths, signage and minor safety works.”
Is that the focus that the users wanted?
One other fact: The tally of deaths and serious injury crashes rose across the district, from six events in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 to 10 in 2024-25 – including one tourist death.
That is three more than the district’s annual target of “less than seven.”
