Contractors have largely managed to catch up on road maintenance throughout the Waitaki district after being delayed by extreme wet weather, including flooding, since April.
Some rural roads were badly affected, not only by flood damage but also loss of metal and lack of grading, which made them soft and slippery in places.
In June, the Waitaki District Council warned motorists to be patient and take care when using rural roads, particularly unsealed ones, while it waited for settled weather to catch up.
Roading manager Michael Voss said yesterday the council's contractor, SouthRoads, using extra resources and the help of locally-based contractors, had been able to take advantage of a recent dry period to catch up.
About 30% of the time was spent on flood damage emergency repairs and remedial works, also using extra resources, so the contractor could then catch up on road maintenance.
Mr Voss said the delays would not cause extra costs for the council's programmed maintenance work, regardless of when it was undertaken.
''Despite significant weather events delaying some of our maintenance work, we are pleased with the progress our contractors have made to recover some lost time and will continue to ensure all scheduled maintenance work is completed,'' Mr Voss said.
The Otago Daily Times had received a complaint from Nenthorn resident Tricia Harvie about the state of rural roads in her area, raising safety issues.
''I would love for council members to come and drive my piece of `gravel' I have to travel on several times a week to get to work, with two preschoolers in the car,'' she said.
A southern section of the Nenthorn Valley Rd joining Moonlight Rd had not had gravel spread on it for more a year, just ''a pathetic attempt'' at filling in a hole that kept appearing,Parts of the road were too dangerous to drive on.
On Moonlight Rd through to Middlemarch, there had been exposed rock for some time and when gravel was spread it was so coarse it made driving very difficult.
''I and many of my neighbours continue to complain to the council, but they never follow through, or contact us to discuss,'' she said.
Mr Voss said the road underwent regular inspections to monitor its condition and plan maintenance works, or in response to a request for service.
Driving on bare rock was unavoidable due to the terrain. Any metal applied to rock was spat off by traffic.
Sections of Dansey's Pass Rd were treated the same.
While council worked hard to ensure rural roads were kept to the highest possible standards within funding, Mr Voss acknowledged that did not alway match road users' expectations.
The council endeavoured to respond to queries and complaints in a timely manner and with the most appropriate solution.
''We acknowledge that we have not always responded to the customer's satisfaction and we are working to improve our level of service and responsiveness,'' he said.
