Potholes appeared in their dozens across many roads this week, with Steward Rd, near Hilderthorpe, particularly badly affected, but council roading manager Michael Voss said the aftermath of four heavy rain events in recent weeks meant the focus needed to remain on safety issues.
Mr Voss said potholes were a natural event following rain and the council would not divert graders away from flood repair work at this stage unless they had been identified as a safety issue.
"We have 1800km of roading network, of which 1500km have been affected by rain. Basically, there are still some 20-odd roads closed and 30-odd under heavy caution. Our focus at this stage is to ensure that all residents have accessibility to the roading network, that is our first priority.
"Our second priority is safety, ensuring everything is marked up, and our third priority is getting the school bus routes sorted out, so that they can actually travel on them properly, and that's equal priority to the work we are currently working on with Fonterra to ensure that as the first of the [milk] tankers start running now, that those roads they keenly need to operate are opened up as soon as possible."
He said normal service should be resumed within the next three to four weeks. Graders were already out on the district's roads and "a lot" of the potholes would be fixed in the next couple of weeks.
