Speech to Association of Consulting Engineers (ACE) Annual Conference

Good evening and thank you for inviting me along tonight.

Can I thank Fletcher Challenge for their sponsorship of tonight's event, and of previous ACENZ conferences.

I read an article in the engineering magazine E.NZ recently on the award winning Te Rewa Rewa bridge here in New Plymouth. It's a stunning combination of art and engineering, and a great demonstration of what engineers can achieve.

It's part of New Plymouth's famous coastal walkway, and I'd urge you to have a look if you get a chance while you're here. 

Tonight I'd like to give you a quick update on the government's priorities for the transport sector, and how this affects your profession.

The theme of your conference is "Energise the Future", which is a good description of what transport can do for New Zealand's economy.

We know that quality transport infrastructure can give us greater productivity and faster economic growth. 

For an exporting nation like New Zealand, how we move people and goods to markets is crucial. We rely on roads, rail, sea and air travel to make a living in the world.

To be a competitive economy we have to make our transport network as safe and efficient as possible.

RONs

In particular, we see the road network as the core of the transport sector and a top priority.

A lack of investment over the last 20-25 years has created deficits in our infrastructure that are clogging our arteries.

We need to unclog these arteries, and quickly.

We are putting our money where our mouth is with $11 billion to be invested in our roading network over the next 10 years.

Last year the Minister of Transport Steven Joyce identified seven Roads of National Significance (RoNS) which are top priorities.

These roads are centred around our five largest centres, and are of national strategic importance for the economy. 

All of these roads need work to reduce congestion, improve safety and support economic growth.

The NZ Transport Agency will be making major progress on these roads over the next 10 years.

Of course, we need engineers to help us build all of these roads and I expect many people in this room will be involved over the next decade. 

Brief update on each RoNS project

The first Road of National Significance project to begin was SH1 Victoria Park in Auckland, which began last year, one year ahead of schedule.  

This is the final part of improvements to Auckland's central motorway junction. It includes a 440 metre tunnel beneath Victoria Park to carry three lanes of northbound traffic, allowing the existing viaduct to provide four dedicated southbound lanes.

The Waterview section of Auckland's Western Ring Route will complete a 48 kilometre motorway linking Manukau, Auckland, Waitakere and the North Shore.

As part of this, the Manukau Harbour Crossing opened this week - seven months ahead of schedule. This will be a major relief for the 80,000 motorists who travel between central and south Auckland every day.

The $1.4 billion upgrade of State Highway One from Pūhoi to Wellsford will bring significant benefits to the Northland and Rodney districts, and to Auckland by reducing congestion and travel times while improving safety.

The SH2 Tauranga Eastern Link is the largest roading project ever planned in the Bay of Plenty. It's part of a wider project to handle increased traffic numbers in the region as well as supporting future population growth. Today the government has confirmed there will be tolling on this road to help pay for it.

Work on the Waikato Expressway is continuing, with a contract awarded recently to design and construct the $168 million Te Rapa section.

As the local MP for Otaki, I have a major interest in the SH1 Wellington Northern Corridor which extends from Levin to Wellington airport.

My electorate covers the Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua, and I can tell you transport is the number one local issue.

The other big news in that project was Transmission Gully. This is a big issue for people in my part of the world, and as local MP I've campaigned long and hard for this route to be built.

I think it's essential we have an alternative route in and out of our capital city. In a city like Wellington that is so vulnerable to a big quake, you've got to have route security.

This will also be a vital route in moving people and freight.

There has been decades of talk over this issue, but I'm proud to be part of a Government which is finally doing it.

Finally, the Christchurch Motorway Projects is made up of improvements to the southern, northern and western road corridors. This will mean better access around and to Christchurch, and better connections to the airport and the Port of Lyttleton.

Rail

Rail is also a big priority. We know that freight volumes carried in New Zealand will double by 2040. To meet this challenge, rail will have to play a big part.

In this year's Budget the government committed $250 million to the KiwiRail "Turnaround Plan". This is designed to make the rail freight business sustainable within a decade, so that it can stand on its own two feet.

In principle, we've committed $750 million over the next three years to KiwiRail. Final decisions will depend on business cases and meeting performance targets.

Road Safety

Finally, I want to outline our vision on road safety.

I'm sure you'll be aware of Safer Journeys, released a few months ago, which is the government's 10 year plan for road safety.

While we have made improvements and our road toll has dropped significantly in the last thirty years, this progress has stalled in recent years. Last year 385 New Zealanders died on our roads. 

Safer Journeys outlines some of the major road safety issues we face and presents a range of actions to tackle them.

One of the biggest priorities is improving the safety of young drivers, because so far this year 35% of people killed on our roads have been under 25.

Our youth road toll is much worse than in Australia and it's among the worst in the world.

This is why we are raising the driving age to 16 and make the restricted driving test more difficult.

We're also improving road safety education and making it more widely available.

As we all know, alcohol is still a big problem. Nearly a third of road deaths in New Zealand involve drugs or alcohol in some way. 

This week Cabinet signed off on a major package to tackle this problem.

Early next year we will be bringing in:

• A zero drink drive limit for recidivist drink drivers
• A zero drink drive limit for drivers under 20 years of age
• Much tougher penalties for serious offences causing death and drink driving causing death
• The introduction of alcohol interlocks for repeat drink-drivers and for serious first-time offenders.

In terms of the adult drink-driving limit, we'll be carrying out New Zealand-specific research into this issue over the next two years.

This is a finely balanced issue, and we want to find out more on the level of risk posed by drivers with a blood alcohol content between 0.05 and 0.08.

We need to ensure that New Zealanders understand the difference between the two levels, and what likely impact a change would have on the road toll.

The Minister of Transport Steven Joyce has always said that road safety measures only work if they have the broad support of road users.

Therefore we'd want to be sure New Zealanders understand the benefits of a change and fully support it before proceeding.

In addition to this, we've already we've passed new laws on cellphone use while driving, drugged driving and cracked down on illegal street racers.  

Engineering safer roads

It's worth noting that Safer Journeys looks beyond just road users - it also takes in the safety of roads, roadsides and vehicles.

Engineering will have an important role as we aim for roads that can help reduce the chances of a crash and minimise the consequences when those crashes do occur.

The new Roads of National Significance will support this, as we retrofit and run separate carriageways through some of our busiest rural highways.

Work is underway on a State Highway Classification System. This will categorise State highways based on the volume of traffic they carry and the function they perform.

The recently launched KiwiRAP star ratings will feed into this.

These star ratings have been developed by the AA and the NZ Transport Agency to assess the relative levels of safety built in to our State highways.

They now provide important information for drivers, road authorities and the government.

Conclusion

With all of these projects happening, I'm sure you'll agree it's a busy and exciting time for the transport industry.

As engineers you have a major role to play in building and modernising our transport network, creating safer and more efficient networks throughout New Zealand. 

Your expertise and knowledge is essential in carrying out these ambitious plans.

Thank you again for the chance to speak to you tonight.