Ashburton mayor pleased NZTA abandons SH1 median barriers
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Ashburton’s mayor is celebrating NZTA abandoning plans to install median barriers on State Highway 1 between Ashburton and Rakaia.
Median barriers have been proposed along SH1 from Ashburton to Rolleston since 2021.
An NZTA spokesperson said the change was in response to government priorities outlined in the draft Government Policy Statement on land transport.
It’s a decision that has pleased Ashburton mayor Neil Brown, who has long voiced his opposition to the “wire ropes down the middle of the road”.
Brown met with NZTA representatives earlier this week and was informed that the median barriers won’t be happening now.
“They’ll be looking at putting in the wider median strips instead.
“It’s a good common sense approach to it and I’m happy they are going to do that.
“They have some in already at Hinds following a recent upgrade and it looks good.”
In August last year, NZTA’s relationship manager James Caygill had discussed with the Ashburton District Council how the SH1 improvement plan was focusing on widening the existing road corridor as the first step, and then adding median barriers if required.
A change of government has caused a change in direction.
Rangitata MP James Meager and Waitaki MP Miles Anderson had written to Transport Minister Simeon Brown on March 23 regarding the median barriers.
Minister Brown responded on Monday informing them that, following a review, it had been determined that the Rakaia to Ashburton and the Timaru to St Andrews sections will no longer progress.
“These safety improvements projects will now progress with lower cost safety interventions, including wide centre lines, road widening and resurfacing,” Brown said.
Meager said the wire median barriers were “unnecessarily costly and didn’t address what the local community saw as the main safety improvements needed on our roads”.
“Widening roads and introducing painted medians seem like sensible approaches, giving separation of the traffic without blocking agricultural equipment, emergency services or requiring long, and unproductive detours.”
NZTA is planning to widen SH1 where possible from the Rakaia River Bridge to Ashburton, with the aim of 11.5 metres side to side, increased from the existing 7.5-9.5m.
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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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