Time restrictions to be added to Ashburton’s 30kph school zones
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
30kph speed limits imposed around Ashburton’s schools are to become time-restricted but only after new laws kick in.
The Ashburton District Council has decided slower limit will apply on school days 8.30am to 9.30am and 2.30pm to 3.30pm.
Permanent 30kph urban school speed zones were introduced in July last year but after just one month, Ashburton mayor Neil Brown called for a review, claiming they were not working.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has since announced the Government is to amend the setting of speeds law, including allowing variable speed limits on roads approaching schools during pick-up and drop-off times, rather than permanent reductions.
The council has resolved to enforce the variable limit once the Government makes the changes to permit the signs.
Councillor Richard Wilson had been keen to “correct the mistake” by making the change immediately, and not wait for the Government changes.
There are similar signs already in use elsewhere in the country, Wilson said.
“To put them up now, people understand it, and we all believe that is the law,” he said.
Council chief executive Hamish Riach explained it would be encouraging residents to break the law, as the 30kph would still be the legal speed limit until the law is changed.
The recommended option had been for the speed limits to be restricted to school days between 8.30am and 3.30pm.
Councillor Russell Ellis supported that, wanting to put "child safety over and above a small amount of inconvenience for some of our drivers".
His motion for the daytime restrictions didn’t get enough support from the other councillors.
Councillor Tony Todd said he lives close to two schools and assured the other councillors there “is very little action” outside the school drop off and pick up times.
“During the day all the kids are basically in the grounds.”
The all-day time frame would be overreaching, Wilson said.
It can happen, but “children don’t just run out on the road”, he said.
“All our roads have very good footpaths on them, and that is where you walk.”
With the signage timings sorted, Brown now wants further consideration and consistency in where the signs are placed.
“I’ve heard some are placed well and others are placed too far away from the school. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern in them,” Brown said.
The signs are placed by the best judgment of staff based on access to the school and can be considered in a further review once the speed limits have been in place for a year, Chamberlain said.
*LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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Ashburton’s second bridge cost bumped up
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The cost to build Ashburton’s second bridge has leapt to $130 million as questions remain on how it will be funded.
The council has kept its contribution at $7.5m, despite the estimated price jumping by 15% in two years.
Ashburton Council chief executive Hamish Riach provided councillors with an update on the second bridge after he recently met with Minister of Transport Simeon Brown.
The Government has made the bridge, a key State Highway 1 route in Canterbury, a national transport priority.
Minister Brown made it clear that the council would need to look for funding in the National Land Transport programme process, Riach said.
That will start with conversations between the council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi around “innovative funding mechanisms”.
After meeting, Riach and Mayor Neil Brown reached out to NZTA regional relationships director James Caygill about “actively getting on with those conversations with their funding people”.
The National Land Transport programme is an investment package for priority transport projects.
For a project to be included in the National Land Transport Programme it has to feature in a council’s long-term plan, Riach said.
The council has chosen to keep the $7.5m figure in its budget planning, even though the cost of the project has increased.
The business case prepared in 2022 estimated the project – a 360m-long bridge across the Ashburton/Hakatere River and new road infrastructure - would cost $113m.
An NZTA document prepared in November estimated the project will cost between $100-$200m.
A recent report from Infometrics, commissioned by Local Government New Zealand, found that over the last three years, costs have gone up significantly and bridges are 38% more expensive to build.
“We note the bridge is programmed to cost $130m and our share, at $7.5m, may or may not survive the whole funding process.
“A lot is going on in this space that is incredibly uncertain.”
The council will adopt its LTP in June – including the $7.5m figure – before knowing what the NLTP entails, Riach said.
“It makes for a messy picture for this project in our formal plans and budgets.”
The minister acknowledged the need for the bridge - easing congestion and improving safety on SH1 - and as a result, the subsidy rate “needed to reflect the improvement to the state highway network”, Riach said.
“We took from that, that a subsidy rate ahead of our normal FAR (funding assistance rate) was entirely justified.”
Rather than a 51% FAR subsidy the business case suggested a 62%, but the question remains how to fill the gap between 62% and 100%, Riach said.
Mayor Brown said the minister also spoke of the Government looking at different ways of funding roading going forward.
This included the possibility of road tolls, Riach said.
“He reiterated that it is certainly his intention to review the way in which tolling is a mechanism for funding projects a little bit later in the year.”
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No tolls without law change
Under legislation, tolls can only be placed on state highways, not on a local road, which is what the second bridge is considered to be.
It also prevents an NZTA toll from raising funds for a council project – so a toll on the existing SH1 bridge couldn’t be used to fund the new local road bridge.
A legislative change could see the possibility of introducing a toll on the existing SH1 Ashburton/Hakatere Bridge or on the second bridge to pay for the project.
There are currently only three toll roads in New Zealand – the Northern Gateway Toll Road north of Auckland, the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road, and the Takitimu Drive Toll Road, both in Tauranga.
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