James Smith: National Road Carriers Policy & Advocacy Manager on Desert Road closing for two months

Freight carriers agree upcoming State Highway 1 repairs are necessary. 

The Desert Road in the Central North Island is shutting to traffic between Tūrangi and Waiouru from January 6 until the end of February. 

NZTA says the detour will add half an hour and an extra 50km to people’s journey. 

National Road Carriers Policy & Advocacy manager, James Smith, says the entire network has maintenance that needs to happen. 

He says they've known about it since August, and the road will end up with a much better finish. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Truck.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
He's won our Roads to harden up calling for concrete
on busy sections of State Highway over Asheville, Ashvilt and You.
Report launched by Transport Minister Simeon Brown, shows concrete roads
are well suited for high intensity traffic and are more
cost effective in the long run, though they do cost
more upfront. Maintenance costs can be up to sixty two
percent less. James Smith is with the National Road Carriers Union.

(00:23):
He's with US Live this morning. James, good morning to you.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Good morning Ryan.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good to have you on the show. Obviously, you guys
would like a bit more concrete.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
We want better roads. Ryan, that's always a good thing.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Where exactly would concrete help.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
I think concrete helps where you've got high volumes of traffic,
especially traffic that's got some weight to it. And because
concrete gives us a far more resilient road, it gives
us a much lower cost over the life total life

(01:08):
of the road. And that's that's I think the significant
change in direction we're seeing from this government. They're starting
to look at what is the long term cost implications
of a decision, rather than the previously held view of
the what can we do for the lowest cost.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Now paper over and then literally fill in the cracks
every five minutes. Can you go faster?

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Correct?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Can can big heavy vehicles go faster on concrete too?

Speaker 1 (01:39):
No? Not no, We're not not so worried about that.
But what it does do is it potentially it removes
that continual need to fix potholes, so you know you've
got and again it's not going to work everywhere because
you know New Zealand's got challenging topography. But where it

(02:00):
will work, I think it should be seriously looked at.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
And it sounds like Simon Brown's going to be doing that.
Is at a conference today, Hey what about the desert
road closing for two months? I suppose it's got to
be done, absolutely, and.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's been well signaled, Like we've known about this since
gosh would have been August, and it's part of that
renewals program that started off at t RAL making it
way all the way through to WAYUU, so well signaled.
There's plenty you know, there's alternatives to do, and it's

(02:37):
going to end up with a much better finish in
the end.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Brilliant James, Thanks very much for being on the program.
Appreciate your time James Smith with the National Road Carriers Union.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
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