Planning & Investment Knowledge Base

Road Improvements activity classes

 

Introduction

This section sets out the guidance on the activity classes for road improvements.

 

Activity classes

There are three activity classes as described below. Development of road improvement programmes will be as follows:

  • Activity class 12: Local road improvements – applies to Approved Organisations
  • Activity class 13: State highway improvements – applies to the Transport Agency (state highways)
  • Activity class 20: Regional Improvements – applies to Approved Organisations and the Transport Agency (state highways)
  • Activity class 31: Crown appropriations for the Accelerated Regional State Highway Programme (ARSHP) - applies to the Transport Agency (state highways)

 

Qualifying for NLTP consideration

Any public road improvement activity described in the work categories in this section may qualify for consideration for inclusion in the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP).

 

Regional Improvements activity class

Regional Improvements have been added as a new activity class in the 2015-25 Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS), for improvements to roads in regional New Zealand. The GPS defines the activity class and relevant criteria.

 

The Transport Agency has not adopted a different set of work category or assessment criteria to give effect to this activity class. This means that all road improvement activities will use the same work categories and Investment Assessment Framework (IAF), and will be prioritised together. The reason for this approach is to ensure that no application is disadvantaged, or needs to be duplicated, in order to be considered for investment from the NLTP.

 

Allocation of activities to the Regional Improvements activity class will be made by the Transport Agency on the basis of eligibility under the GPS and prioritisation through the IAF. The principles that apply to the activity class are that it:

  • is restricted to road improvements work categories,
  • is a nationally contestable fund, rather than a set distribution across regions or districts,
  • allows a regional focus on national priorities of freight efficiency, resilience (including lifelines), road safety and tourism travel,
  • is restricted to eligible areas outside the major metropolitan areas - areas not eligible for funding as Regional Improvements are the major metropolitan areas set out in the 2015 GPS Appendix D, being the following main urban areas as defined by Statistics New Zealand in Classification-Urban Area 2013 v2.0. and shown in the map below:

    • -          Northern Auckland Zone

    -          Western Auckland Zone

    -          Central Auckland Zone

    -          Southern Auckland Zone

    -          Hamilton Zone

    -          Tauranga

    -          Porirua Zone

    -          Upper Hutt Zone

    -          Lower Hutt Zone

    -          Wellington Zone

    -          Christchurch

    -          Dunedin

  • uses the road improvements activity classes investment assessment criteria

 

Regional Improvements will represent the highest priority, eligible, regional activities that are not prioritised for national investment.

 

Map of areas excluded from Regional Improvements funding

 

Funding assistance for local road improvement projects that benefit state highways

Local road improvement projects may, at the Transport Agency’s discretion, be partly or fully funded as an effective state highway improvement project from either Activity class 12 or 13.

 

The following criteria apply:

  • greater state highway benefits can be purchased per dollar when compared with upgrading the state highway
  • the Transport Agency and the local authority have agreed that the project is the best investment option
  • the Transport Agency and the local authority have agreed on attribution of benefits and sharing of construction costs
  • the project is unlikely to proceed if left to the local authority (i.e. funded at the normal funding assistance rate).

Normal or targeted enhanced funding assistance rates, as the case may be, shall apply to each party’s share of the cost of improvements. Arrangements for road maintenance may differ on a case-by-case basis.

 

Common work categories

Most work categories described in this section are common to all three activity classes.

 

Work categories

The guidance included in this section is:

 

Further road related funding policy guidance

Further guidance on the following topics can be found by following the links. The policy within these is to be applied to applications for funding assistance as relevant.

 

 

Last Updated: 23/02/2017 11:48am