John Williamson: Road maintenance is shovel ready

Road maintenance, particularly local, is very much an orphan amongst the sexy, government funded projects, says John Williamson. Photo / Tania Whyte

ON THE ROAD

There have been some great "shovel ready" announcements in the past few weeks. Initially they were about regional development but latterly the projects have also been about shoring up employment as the closed border and Covid-19 impact continues to bite.

Many of these are very worthy community projects which in ordinary times would have taken years and multiple funding applications to get under way. The numbers are simply mind-boggling and the challenge now is for the projects to deliver on the funding undertakings made.

There is a gap between calling a project "shovel ready" and having the contract, contractor and money in place to turn the first sod. Contractors need people, equipment and time frames to be able to hit these projects when they are ready to go. To see their way forward they need to retain and prepare their teams and that means having work available now to ensure the continuity of work.

Road maintenance, particularly local road maintenance, is very much an orphan amongst the sexy, government funded projects. There is a real opportunity now, however, to make a statement about enhanced local road funding. This would help to revive the essential road maintenance that road users are crying out for and to ensure continuity of work for our roading contractors.

Alarmingly, though, many councils who fund roughly 50 per cent of the national local road maintenance spend, are looking at their post-Covid budgets and considering the hole that the pandemic has created.

Northland local authorities respectively spend 32 per cent (Whangārei), 33 per cent (Far North) and 45 per cent (Kaipara) of their total expenditure on roading. It is by far their biggest budget line and could be seen as a tantalising target to seek reductions, particularly when recent storm damage creates a hit to your costs.

The National Land Transport Fund, which provides over 50 per cent of the money through the Financial Assistance Rate (FAR) for local road maintenance, is not funded in shovel-ready fashion. It is funded largely by fuel excise and road user charges and lockdown has severely depleted these revenues.

As well, the past era of "Roads of National Significance", while very worthy in itself, reduced the funds available to local councils to maintain and develop their own roads, and road users are hurting.

The slip on State Highway 1 in the Mangamuka ranges south of Kaitaia. Storm damage creates a hit on local council costs. Essential road maintenance needs no new consent and is shovel ready now, says John Williamson. Photo / Supplied

A quick glance at the most recent Far North and Whangārei District annual reports indicates that the level of satisfaction with the transportation system has dropped alarmingly over a year. In the Far North, from 43 to 37 per cent and in Whangārei from 46 to 25 per cent. When your customers are reflecting that level of dissatisfaction with the outcomes of your largest expenditure line then it is time to get real about local road maintenance.

But councils can't do this by themselves. An enhanced FAR along with a special government "shovel-ready" type allocation is the sort of recognition that our local roads deserve.

Every three years the AA puts together a list of "Election Calls" which are put to all political parties as a signal to what is important to road users. Top of the list this year for AA Northland District Council is "reviving essential road maintenance". The rationale for increased road quality is enhanced road safety and reducing the cost of wear and tear on vehicles.

There is a growing dissatisfaction among AA members about the quality of the road surface and the frequency of repair work. There is an acknowledgement of increased maintenance investment by NZTA in the state highway system over the past few years, but that hasn't kept up with the 20 per cent increase in vehicle kilometres travelled during the past decade.

The AA is calling for an increased road maintenance funding of $300 million per year for the next three years to be channelled through NZTA to the total roading network.

That call is consistent across other roading interest groups including Civil Contractors NZ, Amalgamated Workers Union, and Road Transport Forum. Shovelling extra money into road maintenance is better value for money than new infrastructure, in terms of overall road quality, jobs preserved and created, and the general safety and satisfaction of road users.

Revived essential road maintenance needs no new consent and is shovel ready now.

• John Williamson is chairman of Roadsafe Northland and Northland Road Safety Trust, a former national councillor for NZ Automobile Association and former Whangārei District Council member.