INDEPENDENT NEWS

Transmission Gully motorway project has technology concerns

Published: Thu 14 Nov 2019 03:35 PM
Transmission Gully motorway project has concerns about the technology it's using
Phil Pennington, Reporter
One of the country's biggest motorway projects has been beset by critical problems with its technology for cameras and speed signs.
Work on the Transmission Gully project in 2017. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The risks to Transmission Gully north of Wellington are briefly mentioned in New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) documents released to RNZ.
These record a warning early this year to a governance group, saying "concerns with the technology integration ... has been on red for some time".
"Red" denotes the most critical of four categories of project risk.
The technology covers cameras, sensors and speed signs, that provide crucial information to transport operations controllers.
The agency has refused RNZ's Official Information request to spell out what was going wrong, on the grounds it was commercially sensitive.
It had earlier conceded the Transmission Gully project - worth almost a billion dollars - is likely to be delayed past next May due to what it called "critical construction" hold-ups.
The new documents show the agency decided it was "prudent" to let the consortium, that is both building the road and running the technology afterwards, work through a four-point plan to get on top of the red-zoned problems.
But instead of the agency setting the standards, the consortium was, though the tab for that fell on the taxpayer.
"This was the wrong way around and vendors should be meeting NZTA needs," the project briefing to the agency's IT governance group said.
RNZ
New Zealand's public broadcaster, providing comprehensive NZ news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries.
Radio New Zealand is a Crown entity established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. Radio New Zealand News are vital elements in our programming, providing impartial news and information to New Zealanders every day. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) provides listeners with exciting and independent radio programmes in accordance with the Radio New Zealand Charter.

Next in Comment

US Lessons For New Zealand’s Health System: Profiteering, Hospital Adverse Events And Patient Outcomes
By: Ian Powell
Israel’s Argument At The Hague: We Are Incapable Of Genocide
By: Binoy Kampmark
View as: DESKTOP | MOBILE © Scoop Media