The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) is aiming to further improve road safety in December by commencing an extensive two-year trial of new road markings on State Highway 1 between Ohinewai and Huntly.
The new road markings incorporate a painted median approximately one metre wide to provide greater separation between each lane of the highway. These median markings will be painted as dashed white lines on sections of the highway where overtaking is allowed and solid yellow lines in no overtaking areas, and will be supplemented with rumble strips in places.
NZTA State Highways Manager Kaye Clark says the new road markings are being trialled on busy rural state highways with no median barriers at various locations throughout New Zealand following similar successful trials in several other countries.
Mrs Clark says, “The new road marking trials are one of the many initiatives the NZTA is undertaking throughout the country to help reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads. Our long-term goal is to support the Government’s Safer Journeys strategy by improving the safety of our roads and roadsides to reduce the risk of crashes occurring, and to minimise the severity of those that do.”
Data collection surveys will be carried out at the trial site prior to the work commencing and after the new road markings are installed to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment.
The installation of the new road markings is starting next week and will be completed by Christmas. The work will have minimal impact on traffic.
The NZTA reminds motorists turning right off the highway into side roads and driveways to take care to give way to traffic in the oncoming lanes and to pull over to the left hand side of the road if there is a lot of traffic.
