Road problems spelled out for transport minister in the sky

The most powerful transport policy-maker in New Zealand has a better understanding of road problems in the Far North, thanks to an aerial tour of the district’s highways.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce spent three hours yesterday meeting with Mayor Wayne Brown, Far North District Council chief executive David Edmunds and councillor Tom Baker.

The four spent about 75 minutes touring the district in a Salt Air helicopter which flew as low as 500 feet, allowing the minister to see council road concerns including:

• State Highway One at Kawakawa where the council accuses the government of wasting money widening the highway between three narrow bridge

• Road works at Bulls Gorge where the council supported an 80 kph speed limit instead of a $10 million realignment of State Highway 10

• State Highway 10 at Waipapa where the council has for years lobbied government to install a roundabout at a busy intersection

• One-lane bridges that logging trucks and milk tankers have difficulty negotiating on State Highway 10 at Kaeo and Taipa and State Highway One at Rangiahua.

Mr Brown says the aerial tour gave the minister an appreciation of the sheer size of the Far North which is the third largest district in the country.

“He was interested to see how big an area it was, because although we flew as far as Kaitaia, we only went over half of it.”

The tour also helped the council highlight ‘dumb decisions’ by the New Zealand Transport Agency.

“We looked at silly things like the downhill passing lane in a 60kph zone at Coopers Beach, which makes no sense to anybody.”

The three men later told Mr Joyce they wanted the agency to give Northland’s district councils more powers to determine their own road improvement programmes.

“We weren’t asking for more money. We were asking for better quality spending and more say in how it’s spent.”

They told him that capital expenditure on roads should be aimed at projects that deliver economic benefits, such as widening one-lane bridges.

“Spending more than $10 million on Bulls Gorge, based on supposed safety criteria, is a poor spend.”

The council also wanted more control over state highways in town centres, including Paihia where Mr Joyce supported Focus Paihia’s wish for a one-lane traffic system.

“He’s going to help us to get that to happen. We might do the same thing in Kaikohe.”

Mr Joyce appreciated the council’s frustration with the Northland Regional Council’s regional transport committee.

“He understands that a Whangarei committee doesn’t work for us because everyone down there wants to talk about Whangarei or areas to the south of Whangarei.”

He promised to look into options for the council to take over regional council functions.

“He said, ‘why don’t you just become a unitary authority like Gisborne’. I said, ‘oddly enough I’ve been trying to do that for a while’.”

All-in-all, the minister’s visit was positive and worthwhile, Mr Brown says. 

“I think it was pretty good. We were really pleased to have him here.”