Taranaki Regional Council media release
17 June 2009
For immediate release

Regional Transport Priorities Finalised

Taranaki’s 10-year transport master plan was finalised yesterday (16 June).

The Regional Land Transport Programme (RLTP), the first to be prepared under new legislation passed last year, lists all projects and activities that are proposed for the coming three years, prioritises the major projects and covers all sources of funding – national, regional and local. It also has a 10-year financial forecast.

The programme, approved yesterday by the Regional Transport Committee, lists as priorities for national funding the Bell Block bypass and Rugby Road upgrade (both already under way), the Normanby Overbridge realignment and improvements to the Vickers Road-New Plymouth corridor.

Priorities for any extra funding include projects to improve the reliability and security of SH3 north, especially around Mt Messenger, a study of weight restrictions on bridges between Pio Pio and New Plymouth, and the completion of sealing of SH43 (Forgotten World Highway).

Additional funding is also sought for planned improvements to bus services in New Plymouth.

As the Committee discussed the RLTP yesterday, it was briefed by officials on the Government’s new policy statement for transport, announced last month, which gives economic considerations and cost benefit assessments greater priority It also puts a major focus on seven declared highways of national significance, none of which is in Taranaki.

The Committee Chairman, Roger Maxwell, says this may put pressure on the level of national “N funds” for Taranaki projects, with a greater level of regional “R funds” required for the projects to go ahead. This will become clearer when the National Land Transport Programme is approved in August.

R funds are based on a proportion of fuel tax and road user charges and are distributed to regions, where the decisions are made on how they are spent. N funds are nationally contestable, distributed across the country according to where the Government perceives the greatest needs.

Mr Maxwell says the Committee will write to the Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, outlining its concerns and the possible implications for Taranaki of the Government’s policy statement, and stressing the need for a transport network to underpin the region’s strong economic growth.

He says the RLTP lists improvements to SH3 north as a priority for any extra funding.

“The highway north is pivotal to the Taranaki economy,” says Mr Maxwell. “Many of the submitters on the RLTP focused on the importance and the vulnerability of this route. It’s an issue that needs to be kept near the top of funding agenda, both regionally and nationally.”

The RLTP will go to the Taranaki Regional Council for approval before being submitted to the Government.

Twenty-two public submissions were made on the draft programme, with six submitters making verbal presentations to the Regional Transport Committee last month.

The Regional Transport Committee, also newly formed under last year’s legislation, has members from the region’s four Councils, the New Zealand Transport Agency and a number of stakeholder groups.

ENDS

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