The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.

“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn 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.

“Following the setting of this expectation, NZTA has now confirmed that $786 million has been spent on road cones and TTM on state highway maintenance and capital works over the past three years.

“Importantly, this figure does not include expenditure by local councils on local roads. Further work is currently underway to provide public reporting and benchmarking of expenditure for local councils in addition to the reporting made by NZTA.

“Maintaining our road, water and electrical infrastructure is essential, and some level of TTM is unavoidable. But the current approach is out of control. Excessive use of road cones and temporary speed limit reductions - sometimes left in place when work is complete - simply increases cost, forces people to slow down, and frustrates drivers.” 

As a result of the expectations set by the 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.

“This approach is already driving strong results. TTM expenditure – which was 15.9 per cent of maintenance costs and 6.1 per cent of capital project costs last year dropped to 9.9 per cent of maintenance costs and 3.1 per cent 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. The 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.

“Excessive spending on road cones and TTM by road contractors and utility companies ultimately comes out of households’ pockets and can seriously inconvenience motorists when it isn’t managed appropriately.