Speech to New Zealand Institute for Highway Technology
Welcome address
Monday 10 May 2010
Introduction
Good morning – it is great to be here on behalf of Transport Minister Steven Joyce to welcome you to the ‘Paving The Way For Greener Roads’ conference 2010 .
While Steven was disappointed he was unable to attend, he sends his best wishes for what will no doubt be a very enlightening and enjoyable conference here in Taupo.
Roading is very topical in Taupo at the moment with construction of the East Taupo Arterial (ETA). The highway is really starting to take shape. We have four major bridges, a road with chip seal, road signage plus the first street lights are being installed. These are significant milestones for the ETA Chip sealing in the southern zone has commenced and 8km of the ETA has now been sealed with the majority of the main alignment expected to be completed before the depths of winter.
225 pre-cast concrete slabs have been positioned on the Waikato River Bridge and 288m3 of concrete (58 truck loads) was poured creating a 250mm thick bridge deck, and the last of 14 sections of the 440m Wairakei Steam Field Bridge has been put in place. It really is an impressive project.
Over the next few days you will have the opportunity to discuss and debate a range of road building issues. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘protecting our future’, which is fitting.
As we look to develop transport networks that respond to ever increasing demands for efficiency and value for money balancing this with the need for environmental and social responsibility for future generations will always be something to consider carefully.
I’m on the Local Government and environment Select Committee. We have passed legislation to simplify and streamline the Resource Management Act. As we have further RMA and local government reforms I understand the tension between economic growth and environmental protection.
Before I hand over to today’s keynote speaker, Professor Andrew Dawson from Nottingham University, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about the government’s vision for New Zealand’s road network and how we can ensure we develop it in a sustainable way.
Government investment
New Zealand is certainly a country where a lot of thought needs to go into finding innovative transport solutions to overcome the challenges of being a small population living in a long, thin and (I’m sure many people here would agree) often geographically challenging country to build roads in.
Despite these challenges the roading network is the core of New Zealand’s transport system. Eighty-four percent of journeys to work in urban areas are by car, truck or motorbike and 70 percent of freight tonne-kilometres are carried by road.
Over the next 25 years the amount of freight moved around the country is forecast to increase by 70 to 75 percent. While all transport modes will carry their share, the nature of freight means that a lot of it will be carried by road. Therefore we need to be in a position to cope with that demand.
The government’s overall focus in transport is to support New Zealand’s economic growth by getting our goods to market as efficiently as possible.
The movement of freight in particular plays a vital role in sustaining and supporting economic development and contributes to the high quality of life New Zealanders enjoy. As I’ve just mentioned, the freight sector is an essential part of this - linking areas of production to ports from where goods are sent to our export markets.
An efficient freight industry can provide cost-effective forms of transport, improving the overall competitiveness of New Zealand exports. Some goods are more suited to road transportation, some to rail and some to coastal shipping; however the reality is that to achieve this efficiency we need all our transport corridors operating effectively.
The government has increased funding for State highways by more than $1 billion over the three year period from 2009 to 2012 and lifted investment in State highways to 35 percent of the total National Land Transport Fund. This will see almost $11 billion invested over 10 years.
This refocusing of investment priorities has also fed in to the development of the government’s seven Roads of National Significance.
The roads are centred around New Zealand’s five largest population centres that have large traffic volumes, and each is critical to ensuring that users have access to significant markets and areas of employment.
All need work to reduce congestion, improve safety and support economic growth and it is the government’s goal to see these projects substantially completed within 10 years.
This investment in the Roads of National Significance and the broader state highway network will go a long way to addressing some important issues for New Zealand’s land transport infrastructure. In particular this will mean improved journey time reliability on key routes, less congestion in those areas with serious problems, upgrades to important freight and tourism routes, and improved access to markets, employment and areas that contribute to economic growth.
Planning is another area where the government can significantly influence the sustainability of the transport network.
In March the Transport Minister announced the development of a new state highway classification system. This classification system will guide future investment and management of the roading network.
It will involve categorising State highways based on the volume of traffic they carry and the function they perform - whether that's the movement of freight, everyday travel or tourism.
The end goal is for this system to help ensure that our planned state highway investment and operational activities are aligned to helping routes better perform their function, help improve safety and support economic growth and productivity, all within the available funding budget.
Sustainable must also mean safe. This year the government launched Safer Journeys – a road safety strategy for the next ten years. The strategy identifies roads and road sides as one of the key aspects of the transport system where we can make improvements to save lives and this will be taken into account in the classification system.
Taking this bigger picture view is vital if we are to achieve a longer term vision for transport in New Zealand. Infrastructure such as this provides a foundation for a wide range of economic and social services that affect all New Zealanders and businesses. But we also need to get it right because infrastructure assets typically have long lives and often involve large investments.
Making good decisions on infrastructure use and investment now will play a key part in our future economic success.
Government responsibility
Finally I want to touch briefly on some of the specific actions the government is taking to make the roading network more sustainable.
As the owner of the state highway network on behalf of the taxpayer, the government has a responsibility not only to build and maintain these roads, but also to manage and mitigate the environmental impacts of the thousands of kilometres of highway that run the length and breadth of the country.
The New Zealand Transport Agency is directly responsible for the roading network and manages over 4,000 consents – more than any organisation in New Zealand.
Managing the environmental issues associated with the scale of this work requires a broad approach across many disciplines; such as managing relationships, contracts, and experts.
Two of the most important pieces of legislation that set the agenda for this work are the Resource Management Act and the Land Transport Management Act.
The RMA ensures the promotion of sustainable management of natural and physical resources and requires avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the environment.
The LTMA requires land transport activities to contribute to an affordable, integrated, safe, responsive and sustainable land transport system. In addition to this the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding lists: ‘reductions in adverse environmental effects from land transport’ as one of the impacts we need to achieve in the transport sector.
The NZTA’s Environmental Plan describes how environmental impacts are avoided, remedied or mitigated across the transportation lifecycle from planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation.
Twelve environmental issues that arise from roading projects have been identified by this plan. These range from noise and air quality issues to the management of erosion and sediment, culture and heritage considerations and the impacts of vibration and visual quality.
Some of these subjects will be covered in later workshops so I will just touch briefly on managing some of these impacts now.
Noise is the most common public health issue associated with land transport development. To help mitigate against this the NZTA, in collaboration with Standards NZ, has developed road traffic noise standard guidance documents and web based tools for road builders.
Transport derived air quality is also of increasing concern. Every month the NZTA assesses transport related air quality across the entire State highway network to ensure people are not exposed to unacceptable levels.
The Agency has produced a national environmental standard for the treatment of stormwater run off from State highways in cooperation with regional councils and the Ministry for the Environment. Related to this is erosion and sediment control - the biggest environmental issue for capital projects. A national standard for this will be discussed in later sessions.
Social severance remains a significant problem as highways become more and more developed. Keeping communities connected is an important part of mitigation and on the occasions where a site of cultural significance is found NZTA works closely with the local iwi and Historic Place Trust to ensure they are managed appropriately.
Conclusion
In closing I wish you the very best for the rest of your conference. The programme of speakers and workshops will no doubt provide plenty of food for thought over the following days.
Thank you.
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