Chris Bishop: Transport Minister on the Government's plan to change speed limits on 38 sections of road

More roads could get faster - beyond the Government's planned changes to speed limits on 38 sections of road.

The Government is reversing speed limit reductions on those stretches by July, with work set to start tonight.

The Prime Minister believes it'll help people get to jobs faster, pushing economic growth.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop says 49 roads deemed 'more complicated' will be consulted on.

"There are some nasty sections of those roads - we're going to consult on them and it may be that NZTA says the default will go back up to 100, for example, but there will be bits where we keep the speed limit." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speed limits a going back up again From tonight, thirty
eight sections of the State Highway network they'll return to
their previously higher speed limits. This will all happen by
July first. The first to see the increase State Highway
too between Featherston and Masterton run over the room attackers
from Wellington. Transport Minister Chris Bishop is with us. Good afternoon,
Good afternoon. So what's taking So some will start happening tonight.

(00:24):
What's the hold up with all the others?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, it's just so that NZTA can over the next
few weeks as they do sort of routine maintenance and
upgrades and all the other things that they do on roads.
They do them at the same time, which saves some
money and makes it more efficient. But they'll all be
done by the first of July. But we're doing that
wire Apple one straight away because it's the one that's
caused the most community angst and it's also the easiest
to do because it's a long straight section of road

(00:48):
and anyone who's driven it knows it's ridiculous. It's eighty
right now. It's enormously frustrating for motorists there. So it's
going back up to one hundred, and that will happen overnight,
so as of tomorrow morning, you can want one hundred
on that section, right.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Fantastic fantastic news, because I drive that quite a bit
and they reckon you'll only get it'll only take three
minutes off your journey. But I have struggled to believe that.
I think that it added much more going eighty k's
along there.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I was a bit surprised when I read that myself.
I sort of thought it'd be a bit more than
three minutes. That's the official advice, but you know, some
people's journeys will be a bit quicker and others will
be a bit slower, but depending on the time of
day and what they're driving and all that. But yeah, look,
definitely be a time saying.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
You know, when they come up with this advice, do
they actually go and sit in the car and start
the timer or do they just do a calculation from Wellington?
Because I think that's part of the at least this
is what the locals there think. This is part of
the problem with this whole issue. You've got someone sitting
in an office in Wellington or maybe Auckland, mapping out
the road and it's got so many bends in it,

(01:52):
you know, it can only handle eighty k's without actually
going and looking at it.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
That has definitely been part of the problem, there's no
question about that. So that the last government had an
approach which was basically, speed is the only thing that matters,
and we're just going to blanketly lower the speed limit
all around the country. Both local roads and state highways
and communities said, hang on a minute, that there's bits
of the road that should be a bit lower, that's fine,
But actually this idea that you should just you know,

(02:18):
lower the whole estate highway too over in the wire
Rapper for example, down to eighty and pretend you're making
it safer, that's nuts. And so we've come in and said,
exactly right, reverse what they've done. And it's not to
say that there aren't bits of roads. You know, take
the Napier Taupo Road for example. That's another one that
people get worked up about that there's bits of that
road where the speed limit should go down a bit

(02:39):
on some of the nasty corners and things like that.
But the default to go down to aiming it as
crazy as well. So it's the blanket approach that annoys people.
So we're reversing all of that.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
So okay, fair enough, So it's happening from tonight. What
about the forty eight roads were you're going to consult
on Why do you need to consult with people? I
thought you knew what you were doing.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, so there's forty eight roads where there's the mixed
community views about about the reductions, and they're also more complicated,
so there are some nasty sections of those roads. And
so that's besides the point I made before, where we're
going to consult on them. And it may be that
MZTA says the default will go back up to one hundred,
for example, but there'll be bits where we keep the

(03:18):
speed limit at a particular point, so they'll take a
bit of.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
A horse Labour says if anyone dies on any of
these roads from here on out, literally what they said
is the blood is on your hands. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, they've got to work out what They've got to
work out what their position is. Because Chris hip Can
started the twenty twenty three year I don't know if
you remember this by saying he was going to do
a bonfire of all the dumb policies from just sinder Arduna.
One of them was the speed limit thing. That's what
he said they would do, then they didn't actually do it.
And then Karen McNulty, who was the local MP over
in the wire Rapper you know, said a few weeks
ago I looked m ZTA in the eye and they

(03:51):
told me they couldn't raise the speed on it. Well,
I've just done blood and what he's on about blood,
well they've got to work out what their stances. All
three different Labour Party people have a different stance on us,
a certainlos part on the course of those guys.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it. Chris Bishop,
Transport Minister from tonight. If you live in Marsterton or
Featherston you will enjoy one hundred kilometers are now once
more on State Highway too. For more from Heather Duplessy
Allen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.