Council contractors are about to start work on a tree removal programme, addressing high-risk and dangerous trees along rural roadsides.

The trees programmed for removal were selected from five years of data from Council’s Request For Service records, which highlighted known road closures caused by falling trees and branches.

The work will take place on the following roads:

· Whakarau Road (0.5 – 8km)

· Lavenham Road (3.5 – 13km)

· Kanakanaia Road (1.3 – 21km)

· Mata Road (upper from 2.3 – 16km)

· Ihungia Road (13 – 26km)

· Lake Road (2.8 – 3km)

In most cases the sites will be under stop/ go traffic management and residents can expect delays of up to 15 minutes.

However for some sites where a large number of trees need to be felled, the wait could be up to three hours during off-peak times.

“Council will plan these closures around rural school bus runs and will provide advance warning to key stakeholders to allow road users to prepare,” said Council journeys infrastructure manager Dave Hadfield.

“Where possible, contractors will align the work timeframes with the upcoming Port closure, while logging trucks and some other light vehicles won’t be using the roads.”

The largest volume of work is planned for Kanakanaia Road, but work on Ihungia Road is most likely to require road closures.

Contractors AborCare Tree Company, Eastland Tree Care and Advanced Tree Solutions are carrying out the tree removals.

The work programme is expected to be complete by June 30.

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