New road markings trial for state highways

File photo / Dean Purcell

New road markings are being trialled on rural stretches of New Zealand's state highways as an attempt to lower the number of road fatalities.

The two-year trial will see a painted median around one metre wide to provide greater separation between each lane of the highway. The median markings will be painted as dashed white lines on sections of the highway where overtaking is allowed and solid yellow lines in no overtaking areas, and will be supplemented with rumble strips in places.

State Highway 1 between Ohinewai and Huntly will be the first stretch of road to get the new markings, with the changes being made this month.

NZTA state highways manager Kaye Clark said the new road markings are being trialled on busy rural state highways with no median barriers at various locations throughout New Zealand following similar successful trials in several other countries.

"The new road marking trials are one of the many initiatives the NZTA is undertaking throughout the country to help reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads. Our long-term goal is to support the Government's Safer Journeys strategy by improving the safety of our roads and roadsides to reduce the risk of crashes occurring, and to minimise the severity of those that do."

Data collection surveys will be carried out at the trial site prior to the work commencing and after the new road markings are installed to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment.

Work on the new road markings begins next week and will be completed by Christmas. The work will have minimal impact on traffic.

- NZ Herald staff