Road carriers welcome roading improvements

The National Road Carriers Association, the country’s leading road transport organisation, has welcomed announcements over roading improvements planned for the Horowhenua.

Plans announced by the NZ Transport Agency include safety upgrades and a new highway from O¯ taki to north of Levin.

“It’s great news improvements are being made around safety,” said David Aitken, the NRC’s chief executive officer.

In the Horowhenua, the NZTA has said it will announce the route of the Levin expressway which will bypass the town, early in the New Year.

“We all know this area has been a bottleneck for decades,” said Aitken. “NZTA is talking about just two lanes, but once again traffic volumes and population growth support the need for four lanes.”

Mr Aitken said New Zealand had a history of making roading improvements and then returning a few years later to make more upgrades in the same area.

“A classic case is what is happening in the Te Kauwhata area at the moment. A few years ago, it was made three lanes. Now they are doing four lanes.”

Mr Aitken said the new projects in Northland and Horowhenua should be “done right first time with four lanes to take into account future traffic volumes”.

These projects will be based on the prioritisation of a total of 12 major infrastructure projects around the country.

“It’s a nice story,” says Mr Aitken. “But we know it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. We need actual dates and the knowledge they’re going to get on with it.

The Otaki ¯ to north of Levin expressway will rid the town of all the heavy transport that uses the main street.

“It will give the local community back its town, without all the outside interference it has now,” says Mr Aitken.

“We know the new Government is prioritising projects based on safety improvements to reduce death and injury, value for money and reduced emissions,” says Mr Aitken.

Despite incentives to use rail and coastal freight alternatives, the vast majority of internal freight movements would still be by road transport, he said.

“We have lagged behind on infrastructure improvements while the population and its demand for everything it needs has grown,” says Mr Aitken. “Our major roading network needs to catch up with the country’s growth and freight movement needs.”

National Road Carriers represents companies involved in the road transport industry. It has 1800 members, who collectively operate 16,000 trucks throughout New Zealand. Phone Mobile 06 368 2037 06 368 1591 Ian 021 432 995 Ken 021 246 8202