RA’s first industry visit to New Zealand this week has been a productive and informative opportunity for participants from both sides of the Tasman to share experiences, knowledge and innovative ideas.
Our first day provided the opportunity for an up-close view of two major projects now being delivered by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
We first travelled north amid spectacular scenery to view the 18.5km Puhoi – Warkworth extension of the Northern Motorway (State Highway 1) and witness some impressive engineering and construction feats in challenging terrain.
Heading back towards the city, we were also fortunate to view works on the Auckland Northern Corridor – which incorporates improved connections between State Highway 1 and State Highway 18, along with additional lanes, 7kms of shared paths and improved public transport by an extension of the Northern Busway to Albany.
In the evening, we hosted RA’s first-ever industry dinner in New Zealand with guest speaker Brett Gliddon, General Manager Transport Services, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, which was generously supported by Fulton Hogan.
Brett provided attendees with an overview of Waka Kotahi NZTA’s extensive work program of transport infrastructure projects, maintenance activities, commitment to road safety and efforts to enhance the sustainability of transport infrastructure and services across New Zealand.
He also reflected on opportunities for Australia and New Zealand to learn from each other’s experiences and innovations in procurement, smarter use of data, emissions reduction and enhancing the resilience of transport networks in the face of climate change.
Day two involved a joint industry forum presented by RA and Waka Kotahi NZTA, which was hosted at Beca’s offices in Auckland.
The forum opened with an address by the Hon. Michael Wood, New Zealand’s Minister of Transport, who set the scene with an overview of the New Zealand Government’s policy agenda in transport, including decarbonisation, an ambitious program of infrastructure projects and efforts to improve road safety.
The agenda for the forum includes a series of presentations, panel conversations and round table discussions around four key areas:
- Procurement;
- Data & technology;
- Road worker safety; and
- Sustainability
The content of the forum discussion will be set out in RA’s report on the industry visit, which will be released in the coming weeks.
Huge thanks to all those who joined us in travelling to New Zealand, and in particular to the team at Waka Kotahi NZTA for their support in helping RA to develop the program and facilitating the site visits.
