The government says use of too many road cones costs too much, and wants local councils to cut down on how many they use (file photo). Photo: RNZ/ Indira Stewart

The government will require councils to use fewer road cones, or miss out on government funding for roads.

Minister of Transport Chris Bishop said people have become increasingly irritated by the too-frequently over-the-top use of road cones and costly temporary traffic management around roadworks.

“We campaigned on bringing some much-needed common sense to the use of road cones, and we’re making good progress,” said Bishop.An unwinnable war on the great enemy – the road coneGovernment declares crackdown on ‘excessive’ use of road cones

He said the code of practice for traffic management risk assessment had been overly prescriptive, and the New Zealand Transport Agency has now stopped using it for work on state highways.

“They have instead moved to a far more pragmatic guide which allows contractors to use their experience and common sense to keep everyone safe on a worksite, rather than specifying road cone use down to the centimetre.”

Bishop said many councils, which own and maintain local roads, were still using the code of practice.

“Which is why we still see ridiculous temporary traffic management measures on local streets, such as quiet cul-de-sacs covered in road cones because of minor work on a footpath.

“This over-the-top traffic management by councils is costing ratepayers money. The government has got its own house in order by significantly cutting its temporary traffic management costs on state highways. Some councils are also making good efforts in this area – but now all councils will be required to get on board.”

He said the government funds local council transport projects to the tune of over $1 billion per year through the National Land Transport Fund, which is administered by NZTA.

In future the NZTA board will not approve funding unless the councils use the New Zealand guide to temporary traffic management for their local roadworks contracts, Bishop said.

“By requiring local councils to adopt a risk-based approach, we’ll see more sensible use of temporary traffic management on local roads, keeping road workers and others safe, at a more reasonable cost to ratepayers.

New Plymouth mayor and Local Government NZ provincial sector chair Neil Holdom told RNZ the government had listened to councils that had felt constrained and forced into expenditure. Holdom said the new plan was pragmatic and long overdue.

“New Zealand needs to save a fortune because we have got so much investment in our infrastructure ahead of us.”

He said that his biggest concern was how WorkSafe would view this change when an accident did occur.

“The message for our contractors and councils from WorkSafe has been basically have the cones touching, because if you don’t and something goes wrong, we’ll come in and nail you.”

Holdom said WorkSafe’s action would inform how fast the new changes were adopted.