Ashburton Courier: September 30, 2021
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MOTORING<br />
22 <strong>Ashburton</strong> <strong>Courier</strong>, <strong>September</strong> <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2021</strong><br />
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
Roading network needs improvements<br />
<strong>Ashburton</strong>DistrictCouncil’s<br />
roadingnetworkiswellmanaged<br />
and generally in<br />
goodcondition,thoughthe<br />
standard of roadsidedrainage<br />
in some ruralareas is<br />
impacting asset lifecyclesand<br />
levelsofservice,according to<br />
an auditbyWaka Kotahi<br />
NZTA.<br />
An investment and technical<br />
audit is undertaken every<br />
three years by the agency into<br />
council’sland transport<br />
programmetoensureitis<br />
being wellmanaged and<br />
deliveringvalue for money.<br />
It also considers roadsafety.<br />
WakaKotahihas<br />
contributed $24,748,700to<br />
council’stransport<br />
programmeoverthe pastthree<br />
years.<br />
Assessments in thereport,<br />
which werediscussed by<br />
council’sAudit andRisk<br />
Committee last week, ranged<br />
fromeffective (best), to some<br />
improvement needed,<br />
significantimprovement<br />
needed and unsatisfactory<br />
(worst).<br />
Council’soverallrating was<br />
some improvementneeded.<br />
Thereport said network<br />
conditionand management<br />
neededsomeimprovement<br />
though general maintenance<br />
overall resultedingood ride<br />
quality on both sealedand<br />
unsealed roads.<br />
The district’s roading<br />
network is 2614km,92per cent<br />
of which is rural and 60 per<br />
centofwhich is sealed.<br />
Mostofthe predictedgrowth<br />
is in andaround <strong>Ashburton</strong><br />
and Methventowns.<br />
Other assessment areas<br />
wereactivity management<br />
planning (someimprovement<br />
needed), dataquality to inform<br />
decisionmaking(effective)<br />
and roadsafety(some<br />
improvement needed).<br />
Council's infrastructure<br />
servicesgroupmanager Neil<br />
McCannsaidthe technical<br />
36page technicalreport was<br />
mostly pleasing, though it also<br />
containedopportunitiesfor<br />
improvement in both<br />
processesand practices.<br />
“Theauditwas undertaken<br />
at the end of June, amonth<br />
after our bigrainevent,and it<br />
confirmed we aretracking<br />
wellwhen comparedtoother<br />
councils,though we areinthe<br />
lower quartileinterms of<br />
maintenance expenditure.”<br />
Council’s average costfor<br />
the periodwas $4125/km,<br />
withinits peergrouprange of<br />
$3345 to $11,503.<br />
The executivesummary says<br />
effective roadside draining is<br />
imperative to maximise the<br />
lifeofroadpavements and<br />
surfaces.<br />
“Overall,council is<br />
achieving areasonable<br />
standard of drainage across<br />
the network,however thereis<br />
an opportunity to keep our<br />
focus on troublespots andon<br />
highlytraffickedroads,” he<br />
said.<br />
Rural intersections were<br />
highlightedasthe highest<br />
roadsafetyrisk area, though<br />
council was favourably ranked<br />
68 of 72 councilsinlast year’s<br />
Communities at RiskRegister.<br />
The report also<br />
recommendedanauditof<br />
rural intersectionlayoutand<br />
signs.<br />
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