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#20-04 Update to State Highway Control Manual (SM012)

Published: | Category: Technical advice note | Audiences: Road traffic engineers & consultants, Roading contractors

A new version of the SM012 manual is now available to assist practitioners involved in state highway corridor management to carry out their day to day tasks. The content of the new version can be used as guidance with immediate effect.

Publication details

  • Author:
  • Published: 29 May 2020
  • Reference: 20-04
  • Version: 1
  • Contact: SM012@nzta.govt.nz

Purpose

A new version of the State Highway Control Manual (SM012) is now available to assist practitioners involved in state highway corridor management to carry out their day to day tasks. The content of the new version can be used as guidance with immediate effect.

There was a significant change to the structure, job titles and responsibilities within Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, hence this revision of the manual to update these aspects.  This update was also an opportunity for various groups to amend their information in the manual to make it current.

This document describes advice, processes and documentation that has been developed incrementally and empirically over decades to assist highway managers to resolve problems faster.

The new version of the manual is now available online at:

State highway control manual

General information

The update to the SM012 manual has included two significant changes. 

Firstly, it introduces a new process for dealing with claims made by external parties against Waka Kotahi, which might end up at the Disputes Tribunal.  The process is included in part 3, the Asset Management section of the manual.

Secondly, the Deeds of Grant that were included in the previous version and have become a little archaic, have been replaced by new Licence to Occupy agreements.  These can be found both in part 3, the Asset Management section of the manual, and part 4, the agreements section of the manual.

In addition to the general amendments and updates, the index has been expanded to improve guidance and updated to match the changes in the manual.

User benefits

The use of the updated Manual should have immediate benefits:

  • The user should more quickly identify who to talk to if there is an issue arising that they do not know how to deal with.
  • The new claims process should help deliver a more consistent and effective outcome and save on having those faced with a claim reinventing the response from scratch.
  • The new Licences should be better fit for purpose and straightforward to use.
  • The expanded and amended index should make it easier to locate information.

Communication plan

Our target audience for this advisory note is generally internal staff giving approvals and those external agents engaged on behalf of Waka Kotahi.

The new version of the manual is available in the Highways Information Portal the same way as the previous version. 

As a result, our communications will mostly be focussed internally.  Advice of these changes will be promulgated by:

  • this note advising the amended practice
  • Word copies of new agreements delivered to all offices via Corridor and Property Managers
  • direct information via the website and intranet
  • delivery of presentations on request.

Implementation

The implementation should be fairly simple as the audience is specific.  The aim is to target that audience using the communication exercise so that the manual is easy to find.

Given this update is a single, specific issue, it was not considered necessary to conduct company-wide, specific training on the changes but to be available to present as necessary.

Support and advice

It’s important to remember that, while there have been quite a few changes, in most cases the changes have been small in nature and the advice is still the same, or very similar, to the previous version. 

The advantage of the changes is that the delegations for approvals are currently up to date.  This reduces the risk of inappropriate people signing off on outcomes that they are not responsible for. 

The owner of the SM012 manual is the Principal Adviser Network Management, who may be contacted for advice.

Publication details

Author: Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency
Published: November 2019
Version: 1
Found at: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/state-highway-control-manual/

Further information

To submit documents or if you have any questions or feedback, please contact the Waka Kotahi Principal Adviser Network Management at SM012@nzta.govt.nz

 

[signed]

David Darwin - Chair, Ratification Group

Vanessa Browne - Delegated Approver