If there’s anything that makes drivers see red, it’s a sea of orange road cones.

While they serve to keep road workers and drivers safe, Tauranga City Council is trialling a temporary traffic management innovation that will see fewer road cones and less disruption on our local roads.

All works carried out on our local roads require a traffic management plan. Often, this plan involves setting up static signs and road cones around the work site and taking them down again when the work is finished.

Council’s road maintenance contract manager, Garry Oakes, says for straightforward maintenance jobs on low traffic volume roads such as painting line markings, the traffic management set up can take longer than the job itself.

“We’ve been trialling a new method which involves using traffic signals mounted on the back of a utility vehicle or light truck to alert drivers to the works. A road marking buggy is transported to the site on a trailer to undertake the work, and safety is maintained with a site traffic management supervisor watching out for people moving around the worksite. Other staff can remain in their vehicles, reducing health and safety risks.

“Once the paint is dry, we can pack up and move on to the next job. Having smaller equipment also makes the work less intrusive for residents.”

Much of this line marking work is done at night to avoid disruption on the road, but it can be a minor noise nuisance for residents. “Reducing the time spent at each site is a win-win,” says Garry.

The trial will extend to daytime line marking, and line marking on arterial (high traffic volume) roads.

The innovation has been successfully tested at two sites and will continue to be trialled until July 2025 to monitor the results. The work is being undertaken by Tauranga company Complete Traffic Services, also ensuring that Council is supporting local business.

“We expect that we will be able to quadruple our output – completing four jobs an hour instead of one - which means better value for money without sacrificing safety or quality,” says Garry.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale says excessive road cone use and temporary traffic management costs have been high on the agenda for improvement with central government this year, with Transport Minister Simeon Brown requiring local road controlling authorities such as Tauranga City Council to join NZTA Waka Kotahi in providing quarterly reports on the amount of money spent on temporary traffic management.

“I applaud this initiative and the innovation shown. This represents value for money for our ratepayers and less disruption for drivers.

“I support any initiative to reduce road cones and temporary traffic management costs, and this not only does this without compromising safety but also improving productivity,” says Mahé.

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