Thames Coromandel Mayor Len Salt says yet another washout forcing a section of State Highway 25 down to one lane is bringing more anxiety to the region.
State Highway 25 from Whangamatā to Hikuai had become a key link to the peninsula after more than 100m of SH25A from Kopu to Hikuwai was washed away in a slip.
"What we're sensing now amongst the people in our district is a very much heightened level of anxiety about the weather," Salt told Checkpoint.
"When we had SH25A ... it gave us an alternative, now that alternative has really got to be taken off the table for nine months to a year... then it leaves the rest of the roading network in such a vulnerable state that we'd be pretending to say that we weren't anxious about it.
"What we would like to get some certainty on, and we continue to ask this question, is the rest of the roading network. We have to have some certainty for our business people, for our communities, for our social and economic wellbeing."
Salt said he's keen to see a ferry network going. And he has had offers. One was from the Hauraki Māori Trust Board.
"They run mussel barges. So we've had a conversation started with them... they've opened the door and said maybe we can help with that."
