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  5. Road maintenance and repairs

Road maintenance and repairs

We invest $44m a year to maintain and repair Christchurch roads, footpaths and cycleways, so people can travel to where they want to go safely.

Fixing our roads is part of our core business as a Council. We maintain roads so they’re safe, last longer and are better to drive on.

There's 2418km of road, footpaths and cycleways in Christchurch. We focus on urgent repairs to keep our roads, footpaths and cycleways safe.

To increase the lifespan of a road we only fix the parts that need it, this helps our budget go further so we can repair more roads.

Every year we:

  • Repair 30km of footpaths
  • Fix 20,000 potholes
  • Reseal 80km of roads
  • Sweep 39,8000km of roads and gutters

View the locations of Council's road and footpath resurfacing programme.(external link) 

To report a road hazard or pothole please use Snap Send Solve,(external link) contact us online(external link) or phone 03 941 8999.

How potholes are caused

Asphalt and chipseal is the waterproof surface to keep the road's underlying gravel layers dry so they retain strength. If water gets into these gravel layers they become weak and slumping occurs. When this happens the protective asphalt or chipseal layer cracks and potholes quickly form. 

Sometimes we fix a pothole, then another one appears. This is because water has already seeped further under the road surface, weakening the gravel layer and creating new potholes a few weeks later.

Why we patch potholes instead of resealing a road

Resealing a road is an expensive option and we need to use our money wisely to make sure it stretches to cover everything we need to do for our roads and footpaths.

We're still trying to catch up with the backlog of sealing and the wider works needed due to the Canterbury Earthquakes.

The process for resealing a road

Resealing a road is a two-stage process. First, we fix the specific areas that are failing or need to be smoothed. These are known as pre-seals, which need to cure for at least three months. After that, we do the final – asphalt or chipseal – surfacing.

Where we can, we try to do the pre-seals a year before the second stage, to make sure we get the best final surface we can.