Adamson Drive revisited

A watching brief will be given to the road surface of Adamson Drive and Centennial Avenue this summer, Queenstown Lakes District Council project manager Ken Gousmett said.

Last December Adamson Drive and Centennial Avenue both suffered tar ‘bleeding’ from the newly applied chip seal coats.

“Unfortunately the seal coincided with a particularly hot period with temperatures reaching 32 degrees and considerably more at the road surface,” Mr Gousmett said.  The issue caused headaches for residents with tar getting on cars, bikes, shoes and even pets and being tracked indoors at times.

“It was completely unacceptable at the time.  Our response was to cover the seal with gravel which helped alleviate the worst effects. The problem had largely stopped by the New Year,” Mr Gousmett said.

Since last summer Council has worked to understand the problem and how to prevent it happening again.

“What we have found is the road structure is fine, the issue was with the first seal coat,” he said.

Although a project would normally have two seal coats, a year apart, it had been decided to apply the second, lighter seal coat later in February/March when the weather was cooler.

“At this stage we are not seeing any more problems with bleeding and that issue may have been resolved but we’re not going to take any chances,” Mr Gousmett said.

The existing seal would be inspected on a daily basis on all hot dry days.

“We will undertake mitigation work at short notice if bleeding occurs. We would also be really pleased if the community keep could let us know if they have any concerns,” Mr Gousmett said.