More forward planning, faster decision making and execution of future projects is the number one concern of National Road Carriers (NRC) with general elections approaching.
New Zealand’s largest road freight transport organisation, with 1700 members, says forward planning is not forward enough.
“I know there is more infrastructure spending than ever before. But it is not keeping up with growth, particularly in Auckland,” NRC chief executive officer David Aitken says.
Present projects are only mitigating against current problems. The next government needs to tackle the problem head on with a lot more urgency, he says.
“Forward planning is not far reaching enough. We should be planning now and building in the short to medium term for the expected population and all its transport and traffic requirements in 10 to 20 years’ time.”
New housing and industrial developments expected to come on stream in the next five to ten years need the increased roading infrastructure to cope with the increased population and traffic they generate, Aitken says.
Faster decision making is also needed, Aitken says, pointing to the over 20 years it took to get the Waterview twin tunnels link between the south western and north-western motorways in Auckland. After 30 years since the initial discussions took place, the east-west link between the southern motorway at Sylvia Park to Onehunga is still only in the consent hearing stages, Aitken says.
Congestion in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch is also a concern.
In the short term, no parking zones should be created along all the main arterial roads, including clearway areas, to create another lane of traffic and make better use of existing roads for the benefit of all types of traffic, Aitken suggests.
Outside the main centres, more effort must be put into improving the poor roading network in some parts of the country, particularly in the Far North, he says.
Aitken says the number of weather events and natural disasters in the last year highlights the roading network’s vulnerability. “At a national level, the government must be able to respond more quickly to these events, which are costing the economy billions of dollars in productivity.”
Tourism growth, as well as the forestry upsurge, is putting more pressure on the roads, Aitken says.
The road freight transport sector is looking for more drivers, like many other industries that are short-staffed. The NRC is involved in a driver initiative through the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s Sector Workforce Engagement Programme.
“But we also need targeted immigration to fill the jobs the local population can’t meet,” Aitken says.
