11.7m dollars for Eastern Bay roads
24 June 2016
“Transport minister Simon Bridges and associate minister Craig Foss have today announced that four roads in the East Coast electorate will receive upgrades worth more than $11.7 million,” Mrs Tolley said yesterday.
“We know that eight out of 10 fatal and serious injury crashes on state highways occur on rural roads and 85 to 90 percent of those are head-on, or where the driver runs off the road.”
The allocation follows the Government’s announcement that $600 million will be spent on a Safer Roads and Roadsides Programme, which involves improvements to more than 90 high-risk sites on rural state highways in 14 regions.
It includes nearly all high-risk roads where there have been five or more fatalities in the past five years.
The Eastern Bay upgrades identified by Mrs Tolley are:
- State Highway 30 from Te Teko to Awakeri – $3.6 million for side barriers to be installed and a wider centreline in sections. Shoulders will also be widened in some areas and rumble strips applied.
- State Highway 34 and 30 to Kawerau – $625,000 for rumble strips along centrelines and edgelines and side barriers, to be installed in high-risk areas.
- State Highway 33 – Sun Valley to Paengaroa – up to $6 million following a completed investigation. Improvements could include side barriers in high-risk locations, rumble strips along edgelines and improved signage.
- State Highway 2 – Wainui Road to Opotiki – up to $1.5 million following a completed investigation. Improvements could include side barriers in high-risk locations, rumble strips along edgelines and improved signs.
“Investing more than $11.7 million into the safety of Eastern Bay roads demonstrates the Government’s commitment to reducing death and serious injuries crashes on New Zealand roads,” Mrs Tolley said.
She said work on the first project was expected to start in August 2016, with others starting later this year and mid next year.”
Source: Whakatane Beacon