State highway asset management

The state highway network has a vital role in New Zealand as the essential transport network for people and freight. As a road controlling authority, we must ensure asset management excellence.

Asset management excellence is a key strategic priority, outlined in our Te Toki – Transport Services’ strategic response to Te kāpehu.

We want to strengthen our foundations through the development and implementation of a 10-year Strategic Asset Management Plan. This includes developing a comprehensive framework, data collection programme, and data management standard, as well as progressing our asset management digital business.

To support this work, a State Highway Asset Management Policy has been developed. It includes 14 principles and 3 strategic objectives: well-planned, improved delivery, improved capability. This will be available to view in 2025.

Our State Highway Asset Management Policy

Our State Highway Asset Management Policy guides our approach to strategic asset management planning.

Developing a policy is part of good asset management, as outlined in ISO 55000 the international standard(s) for asset management.

When designing the policy, we considered:

• the relevant parts of Cabinet Circular 23(9), which sets out government expectations of asset management agencies
• our responsibilities for managing State Highways as per s95 of Land Transport Management Act 2003
• how best to ensuring delivery excellence
• the requirements around asset management quality as part of NLTP investment.

Working towards a 10-year Strategic Asset Management Plan

We need to improve the value for money of our delivery. To do this we need better data and decision making.

Developing a 10-year Strategic Asset Management Plan will help us make the right choices and trade-offs to enable transport access for people and goods in ways that are good for our collective economic and social wellbeing. It will also support our transition to an Integrated Delivery Model and ensure we’re a smart client.

Asset management excellence is more than just good maintenance management. For example, it includes:

• efficiently and effectively maintaining the infrastructure we already have
• designing infrastructure that’s easy and therefore cost effective to maintain
• improving infrastructure in some places, through design and build
• weighing up user preferences and demands and meeting them with innovative and cost-effective maintenance and improvement works
• building small when that is all that is required
• timing the resurfacing of a road just right so we’ve extracted the maximum value out of the prior surface
• keeping drainage clear and free flowing so water doesn’t get into pavements and allow them to collapse under freight load.

For more information, email David Darwin, Lead Advisor State Highway Strategy: david.darwin@nzta.govt.nz

Asset management tools

The asset management tools our staff use in maintaining and operating the state highway network are outlined below.