Mataikona Road

Te Ara Mataikona

Council has worked with roading engineering company Stantec to develop long-term options for the Mataikona Road. The project is led by Council in partnership with Waka Kotahi, and working with hapū and iwi, and the community.

This webpage will be updated to show progress and opportunities for community involvement. As part of the project, we are meeting with key stakeholders, including hapū and iwi, as well as the wider Mataikona community, to discuss options and approaches.

Business Case approved

A business case (PDF, 19.3MB) has now been approved for work to improve the resilience of the Mataikona Road. This is an essential step in the project’s progress to seeking funding for the work.

Masterton District Councillors agreed on 28 June 2023 to seek funding support for Option B in the business case, focussing on critical and high risk interventions, using a mix of coastal protection, retreat of the road (where practical and feasible), slope stabilisation, and retaining walls.

The business case and agreed option will be included in the 2024-34 Roading Asset Management Plan, and 2024-34 Long-Term Plan (LTP) which will be open for consultation with the community early next year.

A draft funding submission for the 2024-2027 National Land Transport Plan must be submitted to Waka Kotahi by next month (August 2023). The Council will not be advised of whether the funding submission is approved by Waka Kotahi until September 2024.

The preferred option has an estimated total cost of $32.8 million.

Where retreat options are proposed, these would be subject to land acquisition processes requiring consultation with landowners.

Further investigation of hybrid approach approved

On 9 November 2022, Masterton District Council (MDC) approved further investigation of a preferred hybrid option for Mataikona Road, as discussed at the community meeting on 3 September 2022.

After two public meetings, and consideration of likely costs, it was decided to take a look at a combined solution involving:

Strengthening options – priority strengthening (when and where this can be afforded).

Increased maintenance – where this is considered necessary in some sections.

Retreat options – where the road can be realigned inland (where possible and feasible)

Sandy Bay Drive has been identified as one potential area where the road could be retreated away from coastal erosion. No timelines or plans have been finalised. We are contacting landowners in the area as the first step in discussing feasibility and risks.

Among things to consider are that:

raising the existing road would incur high costs and it would still be susceptible to coastal/river erosion requiring very expensive coastal protection
taking advantage of the existing private road would be more economic for both landowners (through reduced responsibility for future maintenance) and the community, by utilising part of an existing as-built road.

Options considered

As set out at the 3 September meeting, the range of options considered were:

It was decided that:

Options 8, 9 and 10 are not equitable to all communities along the road, are expensive and are not considered acceptable to the whole community.
Options 5, 6 and 7 are considered unaffordable.
Options 1 and 2 (“Do nothing” and “Do minimum”) are considered insufficient to meet the needs of the community.

The business case will focus on a combination of options 3, 4, and 5 in specific parts of the road.

Next steps

The next stage of the project is to investigate key elements of the hybrid package that provide the greatest benefits in terms of developing an affordable solution that best extends the life of access along the corridor within the available budget and other constraints.

The resulting business case will outline opportunities for staging investment – where benefits of early investment can be maximised and where investment can be staged.

Have Your Say

If you have questions or feedback about the project you can contact: communications@mstn.govt.nz.