Transport Minister Chris Bishop says local councils will soon be required to take a more “commonsense approach” to temporary traffic management before receiving government funding.
The move is part of the Government’s effort to reduce excessive use of road cones and cut the ballooning cost of temporary traffic controls.
“New Zealanders have become increasingly irritated by the too-frequently over-the-top use of road cones and costly temporary traffic management around roadworks,” Bishop says.
“This approach causes drivers unnecessary delays, creates congestion and wastes taxpayers’ money. The previous government spent a whopping $786 million of taxpayers’ money on temporary traffic management in just three years.”
Bishop says the Government is following through on its campaign promise to rein in excessive traffic control measures.
“We campaigned on bringing some much-needed common sense to the use of road cones, and we’re making good progress.”
Since the Government came into office, NZTA and its contractors have reduced the share of project budgets spent on temporary traffic management. Bishop says the cost of managing traffic on maintenance projects has fallen from 15.8 per cent to 8.8 per cent, while capital project traffic management costs have dropped from six per cent to 2.3 per cent.
“This means fewer disruptions for drivers, and less taxpayer money wasted.”
Bishop credits the improvement to a shift away from an overly prescriptive Code of Practice that previously dictated details such as exact road cone spacing.
“NZTA has achieved these results by requiring its contractors on state highway projects to shift away from an overly prescriptive Code of Practice which specifies in detail the exact spacing required between road cones, among many other requirements.
“They have instead moved to a far more pragmatic guide which allows contractors to use their experience and common sense to keep everyone safe on a worksite, rather than specifying road cone use down to the centimetre.”
While state highway projects are now following this more flexible approach, Bishop says local councils—who manage local roads—are lagging behind.
“Many of them still use the very prescriptive Code of Practice, which is why we still see ridiculous temporary traffic management measures on local streets, such as quiet cul-de-sacs covered in road cones because of minor work on a footpath,” he says.
“This over-the-top traffic management by councils is costing ratepayers money. The Government has got its own house in order by significantly cutting its temporary traffic management costs on state highways. Some councils are also making good efforts in this area – but now all councils will be required to get on board.”
Bishop says NZTA funds more than $1 billion a year in local council transport projects through the National Land Transport Fund, and future funding will be conditional on councils adopting the new traffic management guidance.
“I am pleased to announce that in future, the NZTA Board will require councils to apply the more pragmatic New Zealand guide to temporary traffic management to their local roadworks contracts before approving government funding for those projects.
“By requiring local councils to adopt a risk-based approach, we’ll see more sensible use of temporary traffic management on local roads, keeping road workers and others safe, at a more reasonable cost to ratepayers.
“I’m pleased to see common sense making a return to our roads.”
Councils will need to have a plan in place by December 20, 2025, for applying the New Zealand guide to temporary traffic management in their contracts. The guidance must be used in all new contracts by July 1, 2026, and integrated into all existing contracts by July 1, 2027.
Councils will also be required to report quarterly to NZTA on their use of the guidance, while NZTA will continue reporting on its own traffic management activities on a monthly basis.
