This week there have been a number of roading achievements worth celebrating. All state highways in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti are now open following completion of the Hikuwai Bailey bridge restoring access for residents in Tokomaru Bay, Waipiro Bay, Te Puia Springs and communities all along SH35 to Gisborne. This work is on the back of the re-opening of the Waikare Gorge Bailey bridge on State Highway 2 last month, reconnecting Wairoa and Napier.
This has taken sheer graft. It’s so easy to overlook the hard work that’s gone into these achievements. In the road transport sector we are all too familiar with being taken for granted, with achievements often overlooked. We know that it’s easy to gloss over just how much effort this has taken.
So, on behalf of NRC and the industry, I’m extending a well-deserved congratulations to Waka Kotahi, and their contractors. The road network keeps our communities, businesses and families connected – prioritising this work has been critical for all those affected.
And the good news doesn’t stop there. The Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway is officially complete today with the road set to open over the next few days. Importantly this particular piece of roading is built to handle significant weather events including a stormwater system engineered and built to handle the terrain and a 1-in-100-year flood.
Despite these achievements, plenty of our roading network remains in poor shape. Getting them up to standard is a matter of safety. Just a couple of weeks ago two truck drivers tragically lost their lives in an accident on SH10 in the Far North. The roads are our industry’s office, so the safety of our roads is critical in terms of keeping our people safe. Last week NRC’s Paula Rogers attended at Waka Kotahi ‘Get home safely to your whānau /family’ workshop led by Jeff Fluery with the team at Manulife Forest Management (formerly Hancock Group) in Whangarei. This workshop was previously known as the ‘Roll Over Prevention’ workshop and has been updated to highlight the importance of competent driving abilities. There’s no question our roads can be challenging to navigate and even the most safety conscious driver can be tested by the conditions.
The workshop content was incredibly well received. It also gave attendees the opportunity to share the lasting impact of near misses or accidents witnessed, and the emotional toll these take. We are looking at holding one of these workshops in the Auckland Region within the next couple of months, so please keep an eye out for updates.
Great to see lots of registrations coming in for our AGM next Friday 23 June, for those that haven’t there’s still time to register here.
Look forward to catching up with those attending next week.
Justin
CEO | National Road Carriers Assn
DDI:
+64 9 636 2951 | E: justin.tighe-umbers@natroad.co.nz
