The community will be seeing less road cones and disruptions on our roads thanks to a new approach to traffic management planning.

Gisborne District Council has developed a singular Traffic Management Plan (TMP) specific to our local roads for work in the recovery space in order to streamline processes and reduce costs.

Council Director of Community Lifelines Tim Barry says previously we required a plan for each area of work on the roading network but the new TMP rmeans all sites involved in recovery work will be subject to the one plan.

“This better meets the needs of our communities and reduces costs while continuing to prioritise staff and user safety.”

“The greatest impact of the new TMP relates to unattended work sites, which include dropouts, slips and long-term faults. This means road users can expect a decrease in road cones at these sites as cones will be replaced with semi-permanent markers.”

The new TMP aligns with Minister of Energy and Resources Simeon Brown’s comments about road cones.

“Excessive use of road cones and temporary speed limit reductions - sometimes left in place when work is complete - simply increases cost, forces people to slow down, and frustrates drivers.”

The result of the new TMP will mean significantly reduced costs as there is no longer any need to hire cones, temporary signage will be used and sites are now more likely to comply with the rules as markers will not blow away.

In addition labour costs will dramatically reduce as unattended site monitoring will be site by site rather than every twenty-four hours as per the old rules.

The local operating procedures for attended and active sites, such as footpath repairs, night repair work, and working on a shoulder, continue to be a work in progress.

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