17 July 2013

Annual road maintenance programme done and dusted in the Bay

Great Bay weather helped to make this year’s annual highway maintenance programme a success, says the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).

The NZTA who is responsible for maintaining and building our highway roads undertake a programme of repairs each year to ensure the roads and roadsides continue to be safe for drivers to use.

Regional state highways manager, Brett Gliddon says this year was exceptional weather-wise with the warm dry weather staying around longer than in previous years.

“The works are prioritised every year by road condition, the State Highway classification and the funding we have available to do the repairs.”

He says the weather usually influences how much can be achieved during an annual maintenance programme, and this year we were able to not only complete the programme but add some more works.”

Mr Gliddon says to appreciate the size and scale of the work involved in this year’s maintenance programme that normally start around November and end in May/June, the following estimates gives you an idea of the quantities of some of the products used in the road repairs.

• Resurfaced 1,050,000 square metres of road equal to 260 football fields.
• Around 268,000 square metres or 51 shopping malls (8 times the area of Sylvia Park) of Road Pavement Rehabilitation were undertaken.
• 210 tonnes of cement, the size of two adult Blue Whales or 42 full-grown elephants was used in roadside repairs.
• 1000 large skip bins or 15,000 cubic metres of crushed aggregate was used for resurfacing the roads.

We really appreciate the patience shown by drivers when these repairs were undertaken says Mr Gliddon, the next annual maintenance programme will start sometime in November and is expected to end around May/June 2014.

The NZ Transport Agency works to create transport solutions for all New Zealanders – from helping new drivers earn their licences, to leading safety campaigns to investing in public transport, state highways and local roads. Follow us on twitter @nzta_news.

The NZTA also uses other technology to provide information to enable drivers to make better informed choices about their travel. On The Move is a free service which enables people to sign up for information about crashes, road works and driving conditions on their frequently used routes - to sign up, go to www.onthemove.govt.nz.

For more information please visit www.nzta.govt.nz

ENDS

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