In Transit August 1995 No.66 - Manawatu Gorge and other roads damaged by storms - and announcement of the National Land Transport Programme

 

In Transit August 1995 No.66

The closure of SH3 in the Manawatu Gorge in 2017 due to slips was of course not the first occasion the road had been subject to significant damage. This edition of InTransit highlights a series of roads closed due to storm damage, including two major slips in Manawatu Gorge (one consisting of 5000 cubic metres of material).  The road was closed for nearly three weeks whilst it was cleared.  Other roads closed at this time of year included the Desert Road for 9.5 days, noting it wasn't worthwhile to have snowplows for on average a few days a year, especially since there are viable diversion routes bypassing the Desert Road.

Other features of this newsletter included:

• Target to seal all State Highways by 2002, which has still not been achieved in 2023.
• Approval for the final National Land Transport Programme in 1996, sustaining the Benefit/Cost Ratio for new capital projects at 5:1 (with $43 million to start new construction projects).  Key projects highlighted included more spending on sealing unsealed roads and planning for major projects, including the Auckland Automated Traffic Management System and the Napier-Hastings Motorway extension (latterly called expressway, and consisted of the extension from Pakowhai Road to Omaha Road (Hastings).   Note the difference between sustaining a BCR of 5 and lowering it to 4 (for new projects) was merely $17m, but at the time this was wholly determined by Cabinet as part of the budgetary process.
• Bulls Bypass designation revoked. It was decided that a long-standing bypass designation on the north-eastern side of Bulls (for SH1) would be revoked, because the BCR for the project would only be 1.3, meaning it was not seen likely to be funded for 10-20 years.  Peak Christmas traffic saw only minor increases in delays.