National Road Carriers Association (NRC) CEO Justin Tighe-Umbers says today's Roads of Regional Significance announcement by Transport Minister Simeon Brown is a welcome return to structured planned investment of the transport network and is in line with what NRC called for pre-election.

A long-term plan for addressing the infrastructure deficit and providing certainty will drive down cost, enabling more to be done to return the network to a state that enables productivity and supports economic growth. 

Expanding the Roads of Significance programme to include those that are regionally significant will enable a far more robust pipeline of work to be developed. With this increased certainty we hope to see the doors opening in terms of investment opportunities, both from local and international investors, and the contractors we need to attract to deliver the programme of work. 

This is a really positive step forward in terms of prioritising the work required, factoring in future demands, community and economic needs. We can look forward to increased resilience and productivity from the network which will benefit New Zealand as a whole.