“If you feel like you’re travelling slower this summer, consider that 11,095km of road has been under speed limit review since July 2018,” says ACT’s Transport spokesperson Simon Court.

“Seven times the length of New Zealand, the distance of Wellington to Mexico has been under review for speed limit reductions in the past few years.

“ACT revealed in October that the Government has spent close to $45m on reviewing speed limits. There’s now an open question about whether New Zealand’s roads have more orange cones or more potholes. Labour’s solution is to spend your money reducing the speed limits instead of fixing the roads.

“Lowering speed limits causes immense frustration for motorists and reduces productivity. Rather than look at opportunities to improve the efficiency of the road network, Labour is slowing the movement of freight and people.

“Documents obtained by ACT under the Official Information Act show that Waka Kotahi didn’t even perform any cost-benefit analysis when dropping the speed limits from 100km/h to 80km/h in Hawke’s Bay.

“It doesn’t need to be this way. The Waikato Expressway is a great example of a road that supports a thriving economy and healthy communities - safe, efficient and with a 110km/h speed environment.

“ACT supports moves to lower the road toll – but that comes from better roading infrastructure, not slowing people down, causing frustration and putting further restrictions on businesses who have quite frankly put up with enough under this Government.

“Increasing the level of private sector funding will inject much-needed discipline into decision-making while allowing the Government to maintain prudent levels of public debt.

“Between 2007 and 2017, more than NZ$300bn was raised by funds globally to invest in infrastructure. Most of that capital was raised from insurance companies, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds (including our own New Zealand Super Fund) looking for long-term investments with reasonable returns.

“The Government needs to sort its priorities out. We hear ya.”

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