The Front Page: What does NZ need to do to improve congestion and state of our roads?

More roads will invariably need more repairs. Photo / NZME

A roading policy expert says that fixing congestion and road quality issues will require a multi-faceted strategy.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast, AA policy director Martin Glynn says that climate change, population growth and public transport all need to be taken into consideration when identifying solutions to the problems we face.

“There’s no silver bullet,” he says.

“It’s really about understanding the trip patterns out of particular parts of cities and working out what combination of modes of transport will work right in a particular place. What works in the city centre and the corridors leading up to it don’t work in other parts of the city, so it’s really about taking a strong evidence-based approach.”

Glynn also says it’s important to remember that the priorities of those in the regions are quite different from those of the people stuck in CBD traffic in the larger cities.

“In the regions, they just want their roads fixed. They want reliable roads that they can use that are at a much, much higher standard. They want to be connected better to the rest of the country.” The National Party’s $24 billion roading plan will take some steps toward improving this situation through the development of four-lane highways across the North Island, but this won’t necessarily do much to ease the congestion concerns in Auckland.

“One of the roads proposed is in Tauranga itself, so that will make some difference but this will be short term given growth. Another one of the big roads in Auckland, Mill Road, will be about linking Drury and Manukau, which is expected to accommodate 120,000 people over the next 30 years. A four-lane road that traverses that route will take some of the pressure off the southern motorway, but in most cases, it’s not going to have a big impact.”

Part of the problem with building roads is that they take time and, by the time they’re completed, the population has already grown.

“Generally, you’re playing catch-up, particularly in a growing city where more people are being added to the network. The average person makes around three trips a day, so it’s a constant battle. So long as the population is growing, there’s going to be more demand for people to drive.”

On top of this, the more roads we build, the greater the need for maintenance – particularly at a time when we are starting to contend with the impact of climate change.

“Engineers have learned an awful lot from the events this year,” said Glynn.

“When we build new roads, we need to build them to a much higher standard than we had in the past in terms of resilience. They need to stand up to some of the things we’re going to get much more regularly down the track. And where they do get damaged, they can be repaired reasonably quickly.”

• So are our policymakers taking climate change seriously enough?
• How important will these new roads be to the freight industry?
• What are some of the best ways to reduce congestion?
• And what will it take to get people to accept lower speed limits in some areas?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear more from AA policy director Martin Glynn.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.