When preparing the NLTP, the NZTA must also ensure that the NLTP takes account of relevant strategies and contributes to the purpose of:
This section summarises the NLTP's contributions to these requirements.
The Road Safety Strategy¹ underpins the NZTA's safety assessment criteria, and achieving a safe transport system is one purpose of the NZTA.
Under the GPS, the NZTA and regional transport committees are expected to consider national priorities and perspectives. The NZTA therefore considers regional land transport programmes from a national perspective. As a result, activities included in the NLTP reflect the national focus, regional activities supporting national priorities, and regional priorities.
The NLTP also funds public transport, travel behaviour change and walking and cycling activities, which is consistent with the transport objectives of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy.
¹This is currently the Road Safety to 2010 Strategy. The Road Safety to 2020 Strategy is under development.
The delivery of value for money and affordability is mainly assessed through the NZTA's 'effectiveness' and 'economic efficiency' criteria:
The GPS sets the expectation that the NZTA will make the best use of existing networks as well as investing in new infrastructure. Funding allocations therefore continue to focus on improving the efficiency of existing networks and infrastructure alongside developing new infrastructure. The NZTA is also reviewing its funding processes to identify potential efficiencies. Changes in this NLTP include reducing information requirements through grouping activities.
The allocations recognise the current economic climate and the possibility that expenditure and revenue may vary from forecast. They therefore aim to strike a balance between responding to significant opportunities and need, while allowing room to adjust if the need to handle revenue or expenditure risks arises.
The allocations to transport planning reflect an emphasis on best practice planning processes, including:
Funding for coordinated, integrated packages of activities is on the rise.
The effectiveness assessment criterion firmly supports integrated approaches, with a baseline expectation that activities submitted for inclusion in the NLTP provide long-term, enduring and integrated solutions.
Safety remains a high priority for the NZTA. The NLTP demonstrates this by providing funding for:
More details on funding for these activity classes can be found in NLTP activities by activity class.
This NLTP responds to national priorities and perspectives. Allocations for public transport infrastructure and services reflect the high priority accorded to them by the NZTA and regional transport committees.
To ensure fiscal sustainability, activities for inclusion in this NLTP have been assessed to ensure that:
The NLTP also aims to deliver long-term social and environmental benefits.
A considerable portion of NLTP funding contributes to economic development by improving journey time reliability on key routes, easing severe congestion and reducing the risk and number of fatal and serious injuries.
Funding is allocated to activities that significantly improve access to, through and from major urban centres, ports and airports. RoNS and local roads supporting RoNS benefit from this funding, while key freight and tourism routes benefit from funding that aims to improve transport efficiency and lift productivity. Funding for RoNS and urban arterials, freight and tourism routes also focuses on activities that significantly improve access to major markets and areas of employment and economic growth.
Funding for public transport infrastructure and services, particularly in urban areas, contributes to economic development by helping to reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability for other vehicles on the network. Managing existing infrastructure better will help to increase capacity, which in turn will ease congestion and improve transport efficiency.
National, urban, local and rural roads are maintained to agreed service levels that prioritise public safety, while funding for state highway and local road operation, maintenance and renewal includes a focus on route security and resilience from environmental and other disruptions.
Funding for public transport also addresses issues of public safety via agreed levels of service.
The allocations in this NLTP continue to focus on increasing transport choice in major urban areas by providing funding for public transport infrastructure and services. The continuing and increasing investment in public transport services will serve the nation well, given that fuel prices will inevitably rise.
Funding for walking and cycling infrastructure targets 'model' communities that have a long-term commitment to providing these facilities as a genuine and realistic preferred transport choice.
Funding for community programmes and for improved infrastructure for walking and cycling will continue to help protect and promote public health.
Many community programmes will be located in urban areas, where population density will maximise their contribution to public health. For example, School and Workplace Travel Plans² in urban areas are likely to encourage greater numbers of people to walk and cycle than plans run in smaller centres.
² School and Workplace Travel Planning is already established in the Auckland region. A School Travel Plan, for example, involves the whole school, parents and the wider community in taking a thorough look at school transport, and identifying how to make it safer for children to walk, cycle or catch the bus to school.
The focus on reducing severe congestion in a number of activity classes will improve traffic flows and help to reduce vehicle emissions. In addition, continued funding for public transport services and walking and cycling facilities will help to reduce vehicle emissions, improve transport efficiency and reduce the discharge of contaminants (by reducing increases in private vehicle travel).
All funding decisions on road infrastructure activities considered their potential impacts on the environment, and appropriate measures are included in the activities' scope to mitigate or eliminate potential negative effects. These include, for example, noise barriers, low-noise surfacing and mechanisms to manage or capture contaminants flowing off roads.
Last updated: 6 October 2009
