Roads and Stormwater
Scope of Transport Services
Far North District Council is responsible for the following Transport asset groups;
- Roads (Basecourse, Formation, Top Surface)
- Bridges and large culverts
- Drainage facilities
- Footpaths
- Street lighting
- Car parks
- Minor structures (retaining walls, spalls, seawalls)
- Traffic facilities (Guard/sight rails, road marking, traffic islands)
- Quarries
- Hokianga Vehicular Ferry (between Rawene and Rangiora)
- Land
Description of the Transportation Activity
Roading Network
As indicated earlier in this section, there are some 3,000 km of maintained roads in the district with 2,530 km under the control of the FNDC and the balance being state highways under the control of the NZTA. The FNDC roading network has a higher proportion of unsealed roads than most other districts in New Zealand. Many of the unsealed roads are narrow with poor alignment, and inadequate sight distance. Quarries are of strategic importance as the source of aggregate required to maintain the large unsealed roading network. Council intends to evaluate the future sources and use of aggregate for the roading network.
The District’s roads form a hierarchical network, based on a road’s ability to accommodate traffic flows and traffic loads. The distribution of the hierarchy of roads in the district is shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Road Categorisation Definitions & distribution
|
|
|
| |
|
Unsealed Roads |
Urban 13 km |
Rural 1676 km |
Total 1689 km |
|
Sealed Roads |
184 km |
657 km |
841 km |
|
Total |
197 km |
2333 km |
2530 km |
Transport Funding & Expenditure
Funding
In determining the projects to be undertaken, the Benefit Cost Rational (BCR) (as defined by NZTA Programme and Funding Manual) is the governing criterion used with preference being given to projects, which can be shown to be economically justified and attract subsidy.
Funds received from NZTA meet approximately 66% of the cost of maintaining the road network and 54% of the cost of the road improvements, which qualify for subsidy. Special purpose roads are subsidised at 100% for maintenance and 75% for construction by NZTA.
Page created/updated: 17 December 2008 at 7:55 am
