Transport minister under fire for speed bump claims
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
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Transport Minister Simeon Brown’s claim that he’d saved $12 million by stopping 24 speed bumps is being slammed as “demonstrably untrue” by the Green Party.
Brown made the comment on Monday after unveiling how he’ll spend a record $32.9 billion on roading and transport projects over the next three years.
The National Land Transport Fund is a partnership between the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and local government to determine which projects are funded and progressed in which stages to line up with the government’s priorities.
Roads were the big winners with $5.5b going towards pothole prevention and $7b for the Roads of National Significance (RoNS), to be completed in “waves”.
Early planning for all 17 roads is due to begin by June next year which Brown said would give the sector a clear pipeline. He was confident all of the highways would be completed within budget.
That will likely be a challenge with Brett Gliddon, Waka Kotahi group general manager of transport services, saying it was becoming more expensive to build roads.
Auckland also came out on top securing $8.4b - more than twice the entirety of the budget for the whole South Island which got $3.9b across its regions.
Included in the Super City’s investment was $3.7b for public transport - more than half of the nationwide budget - to pay for the City Rail Link, the Eastern Busway, Northwest Rapid Transit Corridor and the busway between the airport and Botany.
In Wellington, previously flagged projects worth $3.3b include:
The Petone to Grenada Link Rd and Cross Valley Link and improvements to SH1 from the CBD to the airport, which will include a second Mt Victoria Tunnel and upgrades to the Basin Reserve.
Progressing the SH2 Melling transport improvements to provide safer and more efficient access to central Lower Hutt and completing stage 2 of the safety improvements on SH58.
There was also funding announced for projects with a focus on resilience and reconnection for regions affected by severe weather events and across the country the plan will see money put into increased road policing to enable police to crack down on drunk and drugged drivers.
Walking and cycling was the day’s loser with its budget more than halved in nominal terms from $1b in the last plan to $460m.
Brown said the plan was about “rebalancing” funding for roads versus other projects and was a “back to basics” approach. The road users who paid into the fund needed to be the priority, he said.
“People pay their road user charges and their fuel excise duty, and their expectation is that that funding goes back into building and maintaining that road network.”
Brown said New Zealanders were 'sick and tired' of seeing how much money was going into cycleways and said 'speed bumps have been infesting our streets' while potholes were not being filled.
No money from the National Land Transport Fund will go to speed bumps; they will have to entirely be funded by ratepayers.
“I think we’ve stopped 24 speed bumps on state highways,” Brown told reporters.
“They cost about half a million each, so that's 12 million bucks. So that's a saving.”
The Post questioned these numbers with Brown’s office who said the minister was referring to a project in Auckland’s Grey Lynn which cost $490,000 with traffic management being the biggest expense. It was co-funded by Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi. The estimated cost of other crossings in the area was between $19,000 and $31,000 each.
Waka Kotahi provided a list of 32 speed bump projects which have been cancelled under this government but was unable to provide a savings breakdown before deadline.
A spokesperson for Brown couldn’t provide evidence of the savings but stood by the figures used by the minister.
Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said the minister’s claim about the average cost of speed bumps was “demonstrably untrue”.
“It’s kind of shocking how he just comes out with absolute misinformation to justify his position.”
Genter also said the government’s transport plan would come at cost of tomorrow’s generation by doing little to fight climate change or help kickstart the transition away from fossil fuels.
“We need rail of national significance, for freight and people. Our cities need more affordable and frequent public transport, not more chasing after a fossil fuel fix.”
The Roads of National Significance listed in the NLTP are:
Alternative to Brynderwyns
Whangārei to Port Marsden
Warkworth to Wellsford
Cambridge to Piarere
Tauriko West State Highway 29
Mill Road
East West Link
Hamilton Southern Links
Petone to Grenada Link Road and the Cross Valley Link
North West Alternative State Highway (SH16)
Takitimu Northern Link Stage 1
Takitimu Northern Link Stage 2
Hawke's Bay Expressway
Ōtaki to North of Levin
Second Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve upgrade
Hope Bypass
Belfast to Pegasus Motorway and Woodend Bypass
The Roads of Regional Significance listed in the NLTP are:
Penlink
State Highway 1/29 Intersection
Canterbury Package - Rural Intersections
Waihoehoe Road
State Highway 58 Improvements Stage 2
Canterbury Package - Rolleston Upgrade
State Highway 1 Papakura to Drury Improvements
State Highway 2 Melling Transport Improvements
Canterbury Package - Halswell
Second Ashburton Bridge
Queenstown Package
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