Sometimes it is one step forward, and then one or two steps sideways.
In the one-step-forward category is the impending opening of the Manawatū-Tararua Highway which has its ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 7, with it opening to traffic the week after.
One of our membership managers, Lindsay Calvi-Freeman, had a tour of it last week with some of our members.
It’s a substantial improvement on the Saddle Road route, that wasn’t fit for purpose. The replacement highway isn’t perfect – operators will notice the steep gradient (10 per cent), lack of shoulders and limited number of breakdown bays. However, it is certainly much better than the original plan, and make travel in the region safer and faster for all road users.
[We would like to think we had a hand in making this a toll-free highway. Our argument was that this was a replacement for an already free road, not a new alternative, so was not eligible for tolling. It didn’t hurt our advocacy that every resident of the Wairarapa seemed opposed to tolling idea, though probably more for financial reasons rather than policy ones!]
Speaking of challenging road designs, Transporting New Zealand has joined with local councils, MPs and business groups to oppose the downgrading of key parts of the planned Ōtaki to north of Levin (Ō2NL) highway.
Swapping out an interchange at Tararua Rd just south of Levin to replace it with a roundabout in a State Highway is absolutely penny pinching at best, and adding a potentially dangerous feature at worst.
What rankles even more is that this is going to be a tolled road, a proposal supported by Transporting New Zealand in this case. People may not be thrilled with paying to use a road, but they’re more likely to be supportive if it is a quality one.
My last point is something that is actually a full backwards step.
This week the Ports of Auckland Ltd (POAL) came out and said it was bringing forward a planned increase in its Vehicle Booking System fees.
In fact, by January 2027 POAL is planning to increase fees by 170 per cent.
The Port of Auckland’s justification for large peak time increases is to try and shift trucks into off-peak deliveries and pickups.
But the supply chain just doesn’t work like that.
Road transport operators try and avoid peak time traffic as it is, especially in Auckland, and this is backed up by traffic data.
The reality is that customers have to be able to take delivery.
One of our major North Island members did a survey of its customers that showed only 12 per cent of them could accept night-time deliveries of containers.
The Port of Auckland and its owner, Auckland Council, should be looking at improving productivity and performance, rather than wringing more cash out of exporters, importers and consumers.
Have a good King’s Birthday and, as always, travel safe!
