In Transit - August 1996 - No. 75 - 18% increase in state highway spending and Transfund separates from Transit

The August 1996 issue of In Transit is the first edition of the Transit NZ newsletter to be published after the agency's funding functions were transferred to Transfund NZ.  This issue focused primarily on the state highway funding provided by the 1996 National Roading Programme.  Key highlights of that were:

• 18% increase in state highway funding compared to the previous year
• New projects to be funded include:
• Hastings extension of the 2-lane Napier-Hastings Motorway (bypassing Pakowhai to terminate on the outskirts of Hastings). This would later be redesignated as the "Hawke's Bay Expressway" and see SH2 relocated to this route.
• Stoke Bypass SH6 Nelson
• Albany-Silverdale extension to the Auckland Northern Motorway as the first stage of the ALPURT project
• Otira Viaduct SH73 Canterbury to bypass the treacherous zig-zag section in Arthurs Pass
• BCR threshold for project funding had been lowered from 5 to 4.5 and was expected to be 4 the following year

The newsletter also notes that the split between Transfund and Transit means "Transit can focus its energies on being the national manager of the state highway network". It was noted it would enable the agency to focus more on its professional expertise including development of a state highway strategy, so that the network was developed in a co-ordinated way.

Other points in the newsletter included:

• Progress in the State Highway Review (which reviews which roads should or should not be State Highways). Noting that the Review proposed revoking State Highway status for SH1 from the entrance of the Port of Bluff to the southern tip due to the lack of tourist traffic
• Colder weather explaining more closures of Desert Road (noting postponement of a trial of using road salt)
• Various conferences

In Transit August 1996 p1

In Transit August 1996 p2

In Transit August 1996 p3

In Transit August 1996 p4