The September 1997 issue of In Transit focused on the release of the draft National State Highway Strategy which was intended to outline the vision, goals and objectives for its management of the state highway system. The overarching vision was to "provide road users with safe and efficient state highway solutions", with four goals around safety, efficient, quality service and avoid or mitigating adverse environmental effects. It included some specific goals including upgrading urban highways in main cities, such as four-laning rural corridors around Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Wellington, building additional passing lanes and improving existing road alignments. The draft strategy was subject to a three month consultation.
Perhaps of greater interest are two smaller articles with an eye to reform of the sector.
The first, titled "Roading lessons from past point to future" noted that a 1953 report called the "Report of the Roading Investigation Committee" covered issued still valid in 1997. This included that road traffic was national in character and that the burden of paying for roads should shift from ratepayers to road users. The 1953 report recommended that the importance of a national network should be recognised. The report resulted in the National Roads Board being created.
The second titled "Transit calls for one company to provide all roads" was a note of Transit New Zealand's submission to the Ministry of Transport discussion paper "Land Transport Pricing Study : Options for the Future". It proposed that the Government form a single road company to manage the entire national road network (including local roads). It would not be an enlarged Transit New Zealand (although it is hard to anticipate it wouldn't look like that) but a joint central and local government formed entity.
Transit New Zealand proposed the new company could charge road users directly, go into partnerships with the private sector and borrow money, and move away from government dependency for funding of roads. It included not imposing a cost of capital charge on existing roads (but implies new ones could) contracting out speed and overweight vehicle enforcement. and replace fuel tax. It also proposed that rates be replaced with a "property access charge" to reflect the contribution of road access to the value of a property. The intention being that all road users face the economic costs of their decisions.
In 2024, given the Government of the day wishes to replace fuel tax, it is interesting to consider how this was being considered by the state highway agency nearly 30 years earlier!
Other points in this edition include:
- Image of the construction of the Newlands Interchange, SH1 Wellington
- A symposium promoting greater use of cycling in urban areas and how that can be encouraged
- Image of a Kiwi Crossing sign on SH73 near Arthurs Pass
- Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australasia presenter to discuss keeping roads open in winter
- Photo of a delegation from the US Federal Highway Administration visiting New Zealand
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