$1.4b plan unveiled

A $1.4 billion project to improve safety on New Zealand’s most high-risk roads could prevent 160 deaths and serious injuries a year, the Government says.

The Safe Network Programme was announced yesterday by Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter at Dome Valley, north of Auckland – a notorious stretch of road that will be targeted in the programme.

It will see 870 kilometres of high-volume, high-risk state highways made safer by 2021 with improvements such as median and side barriers, rumble strips and shoulder widening.

Once completed, the improvements are expected to prevent 160 deaths and serious injuries every year.

‘‘Drivers will inevitably make mistakes and it’s the Government’s job to stop those mistakes turning into tragedies,’’ Twyford said.

‘‘This year, far too many New Zealanders have lost their lives or been seriously injured in crashes that could have been prevented by road safety upgrades.’’

Genter agreed, saying no other industry accepted hundred of people dying each year as normal.

‘‘No person I know thinks losing a loved one in a crash is an acceptable price to pay for living in a modern society – that’s why we’re making safety a priority,’’ Genter said.

The programme will target an estimated $600 million to $700m of state highway safety improvements and $700m to $800m of local road safety improvements.

Because the Waikato, Auckland and Canterbury regions have the highest

rates of deaths and serious injuries, they will be prioritised in the first year of the programme.

In Dome Valley, one hour north of Auckland, $36.2m is being put aside for the dangerous stretch of SH1 between Wellsford and Warkworth.

Annual road deaths increased from 253 in 2013 to 378 last year.