Auckland Transport launches campaign to 'reunite' its lone road cones

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Auckland Transport wants to gather its stray road cones back into the fold.

An Auckland-wide road cone campaign is currently underway in the hopes of collecting all the 'lonely' ones left behind.

Thousands of the bright orange traffic management aids are used every day in roadworks and construction sites around the city.

They are usually cleaned up after use, but there are also a lot that go missing for various reasons, Auckland Transport (AT) spokesman Mark Hannan said.

Road cones play a vital role in traffic management.

'Some of this is due to mischief and some of it due to contractors forgetting and leaving this stuff behind.'

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The lone cones that were left behind on berms, footpaths or roads tended to lose their purpose and become meaningless, Hannan said.

That was a problem because motorists began to turn a blind eye.

'When motorists ignore their presence, we have a dangerous situation.

'We want everyone to know that we are trying to get the lonely cones off of the network so that only the ones in packs are left to do their jobs.'

The transport agency has launched a social media campaign, #ReuniteOurCones, encouraging Aucklanders to report sightings.

'Let us know about any lonely cones and our contractors will set out on a mission to retrieve them.'

Our cone collector's been busy,spotted this lonely road cone on Gills Rd. Help reunite our cones: https://t.co/vOMO6xiFVy #ReuniteOurCones pic.twitter.com/YlWNwo0CL7

— Auckland Transport (@AklTransport) October 4, 2017

The reporting system works by allowing users to drop a pin on an online map, attach a picture, or even give notes on exactly where the cone is to ensure it is found.

That could be handy, given the recent trend across Auckland and New Zealand of placing cones on top of trees.

'We've seen cones in some odd places,' Hannan said.

'We don't really know how many are missing, [but] we expect to collect in the area of 4000 plus.'

And although rogue cones were the primary focus, he said people could also report other traffic management gear such as signs, collapsed sign stands, barriers or sandbags.

AT also went as far as to provide a tongue-in-cheek answer to an age old question – why road cones are orange – on their Facebook page.

'We believe the orange hue of our native road cones species is due to several environmental factors in the southern hemisphere, their location in the south Pacific and a result of evolution after Pangaea split up about 175 million years ago.

'They have evolved to have an orange hue in order to protect them and make them stand out against their natural predator, the vehicle.'

Lonely cones can be reported here.