Road cones on State Highway 5. Photo: RNZ/ Tom Kitchin
The minister of transport is cracking down on road cones and temporary speed limit signs in an effort to temper an "out of control" approach to traffic management on the network.
The government is set to introduce new "risk-based" guidelines for temporary traffic management, with the aim of cutting unnecessary expenditure.
The plan was confirmed in a statement on Friday from Transport Minister Simeon Brown.
Part of the proposal requires both the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) and local councils to begin quarterly reporting on their traffic management costs, with an expectation they will decrease.
The agency has also been asked to report back by October on its annual traffic management expenditure for the past three years.
It comes after the minister realised there was no book-keeping occurring for temporary traffic management expenses.
"When I became minister of transport, I asked NZTA to outline how much money had been spent by NZTA each year for the past three years on temporary traffic management and was advised this information was not compiled and so was unavailable."
Auckland Transport has estimated it spends at least $145 million each year on temporary traffic management.
The new risk-based approach would rearrange the temporary traffic management programme, including a focus on "flexibility of equipment" and controls, based on the level of risk at each site.
Brown said this might mean some roads were closed for a short time, instead of having stop/go traffic management restrictions in place.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Independent members would also be appointed to NZTA's Road Efficiency Group to help manage the reduction in temporary traffic management expenditure.
"Road maintenance is essential, and some level of TTM is unavoidable. But the current approach is out of control," Brown said.
"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."
Earlier this year, the agency's maintenance and operations team carried out a review of 800 work sites.
Nearly 70 percent of the sites reviewed were unatttended and more than 18 percent were "found to be not needed".
Brown said the risk-based approach was based on guidelines from Australia, where there was "far less reliance on the no longer humble orange road cone".
"This new approach will include changes to contracts, a new way of training, and monitoring to ensure this meets both safety and cost efficiency outcomes," Brown said.
"NZTA is now also continually reviewing current TTM on the network and instructing its suppliers to remove TTM that is not required."
In June, the minister unveiled an increase to ring-fenced pothole prevention funding to a total $3.9 billion for state highways and local roads over the next 10 years.
Brown said the government was also reviewing the Health and Safety at Work Act and the impact it had on temporary traffic management, to see if changes were required.