9 April 2024
Barrie Saunders
REF: OIA-14996
Dear Barrie
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 25 March 2024 requesting the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
1. The total cost of traffic management in the last financial year
2. How many traffic management firms you used in the last financial year
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) does not procure Temporary Traffic Management (TTM) as an individual item, but as part of activities within our maintenance contracts. The State Highway network is separated into 23 regional networks, each with its own maintenance contract.
These maintenance contractors manage any TTM requirements and resourcing for each regional contract, whether that be in house TTM or through sub-contractors. NZTA therefore does not hold individual data on TTM costs or number of subcontractors used by our primary contractors for TTM.
Therefore, I am required to refuse your request under section 18(g) of the Act as the information requested is not held by NZTA and I have no grounds for believing that the information is connected more closely with the functions of another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or of a local authority.
While TTM is important to keep road works safe, the efficiency and costs required are a significant focus of NZTA’s. On 4 March the draft 2024 Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) was released for consultation. The draft includes a strategic priority to reduce expenditure on temporary traffic management and includes a requirement for reporting on TTM on a quarterly basis.
NZTA is actively transitioning to a risk-based approach which will support efficient TTM set-ups that effectively keep people safe. This will include changes to contracts, a new way of working and monitoring to ensure this meets both safety and cost efficiency outcomes. You can find more information on this approach at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roads-and-rail/new-zealand-guide-to-temporary-traffic-management/.2
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to refuse this request. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
In line with NZTA policy, this response will soon be published on our website, with personal information removed.
If you would like to discuss this reply with NZTA, you are welcome to contact it by email atofficial.correspondence@nzta.govt.nz.
Thank you again for writing.
Yours sincerely
Vanessa Browne
National Manager Te Toki Manawa – Programme and Standards
Barrie Saunders has a background in Government Relations and blogs at www.barriesaunders.wordpress.com. - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Proof, as if it was needed, of a Government Department unable and or unwilling to control and manage its costs. Based on this response it would seem that NZTA cannot provide details of the "activities" of any of the " 23 regional networks" which, surely , is the very reason for the existence of NZTA.
Any miserable adder of figures with the ability to operate a calculator would be able to provide the information Barrie requested and, I suspect, at the fraction of the cost of a "National Manager - Programme and Standards".
The safety aspect of road maintenance and construction will be stated in contract specifications written by NZTA and given to contractors at the time of bidding.
The contractor will include provisions for safety and road management in their bid to NZTA and may or may not lay out specific plans which will include the use of cones and barriers.
Likely the cost to NZTA for safety will be a lump sum and probably not include a breakdown of individual items within the cost of safety.
Whether the contractor owns cones and barriers or hires them from a supplier is probably not known by NZTA. Suffice to say that in our risk averse climate,
NZTA probably don't care too much about use or cost of cones and barriers provided that all dangers to road users are eliminated or minimised.
Minimising inconvenience to road users is not high priority and probably not specified in contract documents.
There must be some reason for the over-use of cones. There are often 4 or more times the number needed to do the job. It has been suggested that traffic management firms are paid according to the number of cones used.
Beware of hitting one lying on its side. I was confronted by one while rounding a corner and unable to avoid it. Considerable damage to the front of my car resulted and I was lucky not to lose a headlight.
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