NZ Transport Agency – Auckland Regional Office
 

04 December 2009

NZTA speeds up safety campaign to ‘Slow Down over Newmarket’

The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) today stepped up its campaign to promote driver safety across the Newmarket Viaduct (flyover) with the release of a video on the social media site, YouTube.

The video explains the need for all motorists to ‘Slow down over Newmarket’ due to the complexity, proximity and associated visual distractions of construction work on Stage 1 of the Newmarket Connection: Viaduct Replacement Project. It has initially been distributed via email around greater Auckland.  

“We’re doing everything we can to keep this busy link in the motorway network open at near full capacity throughout what is a vital infrastructure improvement, however to achieve this safely we require all motorists to respect the new speed limits and drive with caution at all times,” explains Tommy Parker, NZTA’s State Highways Manager for Auckland & Northland.

“This message is particularly pertinent at off-peak times, when lighter traffic volumes make higher speeds possible. The use of YouTube reflects our desire to get this important safety message out to people we might struggle to reach through traditional means.”

The YouTube release has been timed to coincide with the assembly of the project’s major piece of construction machinery - a 140-metre long, 20 metre-high, 700-tonne gantry that will tower above passing traffic. It is complemented by city centre billboards and traditional communications media to raise awareness of both the project and its inherent safety concerns amongst the broad mix of road users.

The four-year Newmarket Connection project will see the viaduct completely replaced through a highly innovative series of stages. Stage 1, the completion of a new four-lane southbound motorway bridge, is now well underway and will be completed by early 2011, increasing capacity midway through the construction project. Employing world-leading engineering techniques, the old southbound lanes will then be dismantled to make way for the second half of the new Newmarket Viaduct.

The end result will be a wider, stronger, more sustainable structure that improves the motorway network’s performance and integrates more appropriately with the surrounding urban environment.

For more information on the Newmarket Connection: Viaduct Replacement project, visit www.nzta.govt.nz/newmarketconnection or call the freephone number: 0508 CONNECT (266 6328).

ENDS

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