Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull will be swapping his robes and chains for a barbecue apron at a special breakfast being laid on by Fulton Hogan for the city’s roading contractors on Friday 21 September.

The Dunedin Area Roading Team (DART) has been responsible for the city’s roads for the past four years, under a contract awarded to Fulton Hogan, and Mayor Cull says the barbecue is a great way for him to say thanks in person for their efforts.

"These are the guys who get out of bed at all hours when flooding, landslips, snow or ice threaten the city’s roading network. They get some extremely unpleasant jobs to do in all sorts of conditions and we want to make sure they get some thanks for tackling what can sometimes seem thankless tasks."

Dunedin’s roading network consists of 660km of sealed urban roads and a further 31km that are unsealed. Then there are the 415km of sealed rural roads with an additional 680km unsealed.

Add to that 926km of footpaths, 19,600 signs, 7570 mud tanks, 5450 culverts and 410km of grass verges and the sheer scale of the maintenance work involved becomes clear. There is street sweeping to do, rubbish to be picked up and culverts and storm water systems to be cleared, as well as surface repairs such as potholes to be taken care of.

In an average winter there are 30 frost days which require a total of 1600 tonnes of grit and 13 tonnes of CMA.

It is a major job and Fulton Hogan maintenance manager Dean Scott says they want to thank all staff involved for their efforts.

"It’s a chance to acknowledge the sacrifices they and their families make. They can be called out to jobs all hours of the day and night. So much of what they do happens at times when the public just don’t see them."

It is also an opportunity to build the team spirit within DART which is made up not just of DCC and Fulton Hogan staff, but a number of local subcontractors as well, he says.

"We like having a lot of local subbies helping out but I think that is why people don’t always realise just how many maintenance teams are active out there. From now on we are going to be putting DART branding on vehicles and subcontractors will have magnetic signs they can use so people can see they are working as part of the Dunedin Area Roading Team."