Win for unsealed roads

Residents on unsealed roads have had a minor win in the final Auckland Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) approved by Auckland Council last week.

The budget for unsealed road improvements will be $12.5 million annually for the next six years, with a further $50 million spent over the remaining three years of the 10-year plan, resulting in a total spend of $125 million. Initially, council had budgeted to spend just $6.2 million and $6.4 million in the first two years.

The unsealed roads programme will focus on infrastructure improvements to withstand extreme weather events addressing surface works, safety, seal extensions and drainage conditions.

The RLTP sets out the transport priorities that Auckland Transport, the NZ Transport Agency and KiwiRail are seeking to fund or partly fund from the National Land Transport Fund over the next decade.

Of the $63 billion Auckland hopes to secure under the plan, the lion’s share ($28 billion) will be spent on public transport and state highway improvements ($17 billion).

In a response to last year’s weather events, AT plans to spend $186 million over 10 years on:

• Restoring and grading surface water channels and road shoulders
• Scouring protection works for surface water channels and at culvert inlets/outlets
• Removing and clearing debris from road carriageways, surface water channels and bridge abutment.
• Temporary protection measures such as bunding, covering of slip faces, crack sealing
• Cutting back of banks to retreat from underslips
• Stabilising slips with soil nailing, retaining walls, shotcrete, planting and hydroseeding
• Unblocking culverts
• Restoring damaged road pavements, footpaths, cycleways, kerb and channel and road drainage structures.

Nearly $13 million will be spent over 10 years on the installation of stormwater treatment devices on 23 priority roads to improve the quality of water run-off from the road network.