Cames Road part of future plans say NTA, but not an immediate priority

JULIA WADE

3 Oct, 2022

In response to a recent residents meeting, a Northland Transport Alliance (NTA) spokesperson says that while they are conscious Cames Road is the only available route across the south-eastern side of Kaipara, the road is not actually an official bypass.

Following requests by the Cames Road Residents Association at the 2019 community meeting, the road was restricted to 50km/h, and 30km/h in narrow sections, to help improve safety while Kaipara District Council (KDC) undertook planning and funding applications through the Long Term Plan (LTP) process, to address the level of service provision the road delivers.

“Also at the request of residents, Cames was restricted to some forms of traffic, vehicle’s whose mass is greater than 3500kg, so it therefore cannot be considered a bypass route,” says NTA asset manager Andy Brown. “However, the road is included in our thinking from a network resilience perspective, particularly after the community meetings held with the residents in late 2019 and early 2020.”

Speed limit changes have occurred across Kaipara and the rest of Northland as part of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s national Road to Zero safety program, which involved public consultation and support by councils. Reducing speed limits are a necessary alternative to tar-sealing due to the growing expense, which currently sits between $500,000 - $600,000 before GST per kilometre, plus ongoing maintenance.

“However, it’s important to note that five years of CPI increases from when the KDC road seal extension policy was adopted and what we now know about the current construction market puts costs much higher. There are huge capital improvements required to allow council to construct a sealed road for Cames, so early indications would be closer to $1 million per kilometre.”

As KDC is a small rural council with a significantly sized road network and limited rates base, and no longer receives Waka Kotahi NZTA subsidies for seal extensions, tar-sealing roads is not generally implemented in the district. However, seal extensions can still be paid for by developers as part of their development, privately-funded by local ratepayers and residents, and by council via development funds and financial contributions, or when external funding is granted from partners such as central government.

“Waka Kotahi NZTA can provide subsidy for capital improvement projects where a business case justifies the need for change and the agency does provision subsidy for

dust prevention,” says Brown. “However, the prioritisation and justification process they use means that Cames does not currently qualify for a subsidised seal extension.”

Cames will remain unsealed for the foreseeable future and the spokesperson says the aggregate used along the road is compliant to NTA’s maintenance contract specification.

The ‘Cames Road project’ is in its second iteration of the planning phase, spokesperson Andy Brown confirms, with plans for the road to be part of a business case being developed for the whole Mangawhai area, to lead into the 2024 -2034 LTP.

“This process will include community engagement when the draft business case is ready, sometime in the first part of 2023, and we’re working towards it being finalised for draft LTP consultation from around June 2023, to align the LTP process and our activity management plan bid to Waka Kotahi NZTA for subsidised funding.”

“The widening of Cames Road is part of the business case options and also includes alternative resilient connections in Mangawhai, factoring in Lawrence, Devich, Cames and Garbolino roads… to provide the best network connectivity possible across the south-eastern corner of Mangawhai, and eliminating the 40-plus minute bypass to Kaiwaka and back if something happens along the Hakaru route between Cames and the Insley Street Bridge.

“It also provisions for an alternative route for when the Insley bridge is eventually replaced in about 20 years, and finally aligns to KDC’s spatial plans allowing for future rural residential development growth being included in the district plan rezoning of land.”

n Formed in 2016, Northland Transport Alliance (NTA) is a collaboration between Kaipara, Whangarei and the Far North district councils, Northland Regional Council and Waka Kotahi NZTA which aims to improve and lower the cost of roading services by combining staff, resources and co-ordinating work programmes.

“There are huge capital improvements required to allow council to construct a sealed road for Cames, so early indications would be closer to $1 million per kilometre.”

– Andy Brown, Northland Transport Alliance asset manager