Road freight body Transporting New Zealand is asking why it took ministerial intervention to rein in “excessive” NZ Transport Agency expenditure after it was revealed the organisation spent $786 million over three years on road cone and temporary traffic management.
The figure, which does not include additional expenditure by local councils on local roads, was revealed by Transport Minister Simeon Brown, posting on his LinkedIn page on Wednesday.
It follows Government measures to reduce spending on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM) by introducing a risk-based approach to TTM and requiring NZTA to publicly report on TTM expenditures with quarterly updates. The Government anticipates that these measures will lower TTM costs over time.
“When I became minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did not know how much taxpayer money had been spent on road cones and TTM as it wasn’t recorded. In July, I announced that our Government would require NZTA to publicly report this spending,” Brown says.
“Further work is currently underway to provide public reporting and benchmarking of expenditure for local councils in addition to the reporting made by NZTA.
“As a result of the expectations set by our Government, NZTA is already responding by implementing a new risk-based approach to how TTM is implemented.
“This new approach shifts away from the blanket use of road cones and temporary speed limit restrictions and towards a risk-based approach which seeks to balance the need to ensure road workers are kept safe, while keeping costs under control.”
Brown says early signs show costs are already coming down with TTM expenditure – which was 15.9% of maintenance costs and 6.1% of capital project costs last year. They’ve now dropped to 9.9% of maintenance costs and 3.1% of capital project costs in this year’s first quarter.
“While we should be cautious about these numbers, given they only cover one quarter over winter months, initial signs are positive. Our Government will be waiting to see the trend continue to show a reduction in expenditure from what we have seen in previous years, and improved results for roadworkers and motorists,” Brown says.
Risk-orientated approach welcomed
Transporting NZ policy and advocacy lead Billy Clemens says excessive road cone and temporary traffic management spend had been obvious to its members for some time.
“The road freight sector has been consistently raising frustrations about road cone and traffic management practices that are way out of proportion to the risk NZTA are managing.
“Transporting New Zealand is concerned that temporary traffic management staff and equipment is being deployed for too long, and in excessive quantities, to maximise revenue for contractors. Due to the minister’s direction to NZTA, we know just how much it’s been costing taxpayers. Now it’s measured, it can be managed.
“No road users want to see excessive use of temporary speed limits and road cones, or traffic management measures being left in place long after a project is finished.
“NZTA’s road cone and temporary traffic management spend over the past three years could have built a second Ashburton Bridge six times over. It’s vitally important that the agency and its contractors are taking a risk-orientated approach to protecting road users’ safety, rather than simply slowing everyone down over the busy summer roadwork period.”
