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Whangarei engineer Dean Scanlen has produced some interesting graphs on traffic counts on roads of national significance.
Following a recent newspaper article in which he disputed the argument that roads pay their way but rail doesn’t, he has created these graphs, based on traffic counts available through the NZTA site. (Hat-tip CBT’s Jon Reeves for passing them on).
So do they justify the spending?
Especially as this week, NZTA starts consultation on a Puhoi to Wellsford Road.
6 Comments
This certainly makes one wonder why money is being spent on improving these roads, especially seeing the peak of 2007 or earlier execept for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty. Was this when fuel was most affordable?
As you’ve noted, usage of SH1 to the north has dropped sharply.
I got found this excellent letter to editor while reading the Gisborne Herald which talks about the subsidies to truckies
http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=17994
Such a shame they even think about the Puhoi road. How much money has been spent on the “study” so far?
Note sure about so the amount so far, though the budget for the route planning is $200 million I believe. This is the same amount that Steven Joyce took away from PT expenditure this year for….guess what….his “Roads of National In-significance”!
It will be built at some stage whether its in few years or twenty years time. What is wrong with undertaking the study now and bedding down the prefered route now ?
I believe we should be doing more for even longer terms say planning the next 50 years. This includes Motorways,rail corridors, arterial roads etc.
Look at the costs of not bedding down a Motorway designation for Mt Albert to Wateriew in the 60s when it was first proposed.
“It will be built at some stage whether its in few years or twenty years time. What is wrong with undertaking the study now and bedding down the prefered route now ?”
The harm is about $200 million (that is your study cost alone).
That money is direly needed elsewhere. Even on the motorway system, there are various projects more deserving (including safety fixes on this very same route!). Not to speak of the public transport projects, and the walking and cycling projects that are dying left and right for lack of money. Oh sorry - the modern parlance is “being deferred”.