New road maintenance funding as valuable as gold bricks - AA

The AA welcomes the Government’s decision to provide additional funding to revitalise road maintenance across the country.

The Minister of Transport acknowledged in a National Land Transport funding announcement today that the Government was concerned about roads deteriorating.

“Well maintained roads are safer roads – the extra investment will bring safety benefits now and in the future,” says AA Motoring Affairs General Manager Mike Noon.

Road maintenance impacts a vehicle’s grip with the road, its risk of skidding and the driver losing control. Even the best driver can lose control if the road they’re on doesn’t have good grip.

Improving road maintenance is the number one action that the AA has called on the Government to take in recent time.

For the last four years, AA Members have ranked ‘road surface quality (e.g. potholes)’ as their greatest transport concern in annual surveying the Association undertakes. This issue ranked ahead of other transport concerns like congestion, speed, parking, and road policing.

“Roads need regular repairs and renewal to keep them at the standard they should be. There simply hasn’t been enough funding to do that for many years, and the public has noticed our state highways and local roads becoming more difficult and more dangerous to drive on.”

This increase in funding will ease some of the pressure rising costs have put on Waka Kotahi and mean they can deliver more of the maintenance work everyone wants to see.

“This further investment in road maintenance makes sense in terms of safety and can provide an economic boost as we come out of lockdown.

“Road maintenance projects deliver excellent value for money, they’re needed up and down the country and they can start without delay. Investment in road maintenance creates jobs, improves road safety, and delivers transport benefits that really matter to our communities,” says Mike.

ENDS

For more information contact:

Mike Noon
General Manager Motoring Affairs
New Zealand Automobile Association
M. 021 659704
E. mnoon@aa.co.nz

The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with more than 1.8 million Members. It represents the interests of road users who collectively pay more than $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges and GST.