The Government is investing over $22 million across 18 projects to improve the resilience of roads in the West Coast that have been affected by recent extreme weather.
It comes from the $419m Transport Resilience Fund which was established in this year’s budget to support early preventative works to protect the state highway network from future disruption. It also follows a recent $12 million announcement to improve the resilience of roads in the Nelson, Marlborough and Tasman regions.
The Haast to Hawea section of SH6 has also been identified by Waka Kotahi as a high priority for improving the overall resilience of the state highway corridor, with planning work programmed for the 2024-27 NLTP period.
“State Highway 6 is prone to closures from slips, rock falls, and flooding. Additionally, the West Coast is susceptible to adverse weather events,” prime minister Chris Hipkins says.
“Many roads in the region have experienced repeated extreme weather events in recent years. We need to repair our state highways after these events and also build greater resilience so they’re less affected in the future.
“Safer and more resilient roads will also help support tourism on the West Coast – a key industry for the region and for many locals,” he says.
Budget 2023 also set aside $6 billion in funding to support the implementation of a National Resilience Plan.
“No region can foot the bill for building transport resilience on their own. That’s why the Government is coming to the table to support regions with a range of fund to help them recover,” Hipkins says.
Top priority for road freight
Road freight body Transporting NZ says increasing the resilience of the roading network is a top priority for its freight operator members.
Having a reliable and resilient roading network is essential to supporting the mining, agriculture and forestry industries that drive the West Coast’s economy – and the same goes for New Zealand’s entire national transport system, it says.
“Severe weather events are occurring more and more frequently, wrecking New Zealand’s vulnerable roading network, and putting people’s safety and the security of the supply chain at risk,” interim chief executive Dom Kalasih says.
“Our members want to see our regional roading connections strengthened against adverse weather impacts like slips, rock falls, and flooding.
“That’s why Transporting New Zealand is calling on the Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 to make road network resilience the overarching strategic priority.
“The Transport Resilience Fund is a good start, but we need all transport investment decisions by Waka Kotahi and councils to have resilience at front-of-mind,” Kalasih says.
Consultation on the draft GPS 2024 closed on Friday, with Transporting New Zealand hoping the next government will amend the document to elevate road network resilience and maintenance considerations.
Roads in the region that will receive funding from the Transport Resilience Fund are:
- SH6 Gates of Haast river erosion
- SH6 Wanganui River Protection
- SH6 Whataroa River Protection
- SH73 Rock Shelter DSA and Strengthening
- SH73 Otira River Bridge Abutment Protection
- SH6 Buller Gorge Rock Scaling
- SH6 Douglas Culvert No.2 Replacement
- Cascade Corner
- Cobden Hill West
- Depot Creek
- Ormon Falls
- East of McGraths Corner
- McGraths Corner
- Whites Bridge West Approach
- Rocky Point
- SH73 Candys Bend Scouring
- SH6 Meybille Bay Slip
- SH6 Epitaph Slip – Remote Monitoring
