Roading Budget Barely Meets Maintenance Costs

Fri, 27/03/2009 - 3:53pm

Roading New Zealand welcomes today's announcement by Land Transport New Zealand of $2.7 billion in funding for the 2008/09 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) - an 11% increase on the previous year.

But Roading New Zealand chief executive Chris Olsen warns that the budget for maintenance of local roads and state highways is barely sufficient to preserve the existing condition of the country’s roading network.

“Trimming maintenance funding this close to the bone will require close monitoring of the network to ensure its condition does not deteriorate further,” Mr Olsen says.

This is the third year of constrained maintenance funding and there are early signs of problems with the network, he says.

“Transit New Zealand’s 2007 performance report on the state highway network clearly shows that the rutting of roads has increased around 20% over the past year. This year’s funding has been increased to help repair these problems but it is doubtful whether this is enough to stop further deterioration.”

Unprecedented growth in heavy trucks, higher quality resurfacing materials, and the substantial increase in the cost of roading materials such as bitumen rising by more than 50% have put huge pressures on funding in recent years, Mr Olsen says.

“This year’s NLTP increase in funding will struggle to keep up with these cost pressures."