The year is only 17 days in, but a Tauranga motorcyclist says his year has already 'been ruined” after a pothole has cost him his bike worth more than $20,000.

Paul Webb says he was riding along State Highway 27 when he came across a road worker stepping in and out of traffic 'throwing hot mix” into a pothole, with no cones or warning signs to ward off traffic.

To avoid hitting the worker, Paul says he swerved away from him, which caused him to hit a massive pothole which 'broke off where the suspension meets the frame” on his 15 year old bike.

'It's an old bike, so I've had it insured for over 15 years and paid about $15,000 in insurance costs. I'll be getting a pay out of about $10,000 for it if I'm lucky.”

The pothole, which has since been patched. Photo: Supplied/SunLive.

To add salt to the wound, Paul says when the tow truck arrived, the driver said 'the pothole strikes again” and mentioned how a day prior, he had a callout to the same pothole after a car hit it, which 'ruined its gearbox”.

Paul adds he was 'up over the front wheel only still on by the handlebars” after he had hit the pothole, an event which he says could have cost him his life.

'It collapsed the rear suspension onto the wheel, the foot peg broke off the bike, so I just put the clutch in and stopped the bike as soon as I could.

'I heard someone from NZTA on the radio say '99 per cent of our roads are fit for use'. I would largely beg to differ with that.”

The aftermath of the incident. Photo: Supplied/SunLive.

Paul says he was stuck for 'an hour and 20 minutes” waiting for his tow truck to arrive.

During the wait, he watched the road worker "stepping in and out of traffic as he could” attempting to fix the pothole.

'I pay an astronomical fee to be on the road with this motorcycle. It costs over $550 to register it. They say the road is up to state, well it's not, and they won't offer any help with this situation. I can guarantee that.”

Waka Kotahi regional manager of Maintenance and operations, Rob Campbell, says they are "comfortable" the appropriate controls were in place to manage road worker and road user safety.

Waka Kotahi says the road is due to be re-built in the coming months. Photo: Google Maps.

"This area, which is SH27 between Ngarua Road and the Diagonal Road/Kereone Road intersection, has been under a 70km/h temporary speed limit with accompanying 'bumpy road' signs since Tuesday, January 3," says Rob.

"This section of road is due to be re-built during the current summer renewal season, and is due to commence late February to early March, depending on weather and progress at other sites."

Rob says between now and the build commencing, contractors are managing and maintaining the site "as best as possible".

"As part of this maintenance, any potholes or other safety related road condition issues will be repaired as quickly as possible. This includes pothole repairs using ‘cold mix', which is typically applied quickly to affected areas.

"Our maintenance contractor for East Waikato has confirmed that when applying the cold mix to this pothole they had a tail pilot vehicle positioned down the road to alert oncoming vehicles, and a crew member positioned as a spotter to ensure crew members knew when it was safe to be on the road.

"This setup is in line with an approved traffic management plan the contractor needs to have as part of their worksite management processes.

"Temporary repairs to potholes are common when a future rebuild is nearing, or in winter when we are holding roads during colder, wetter weather, ahead of the summer periods when we complete road renewals."