Trial to reduce road cone use in Tauranga

Traffic signals mounted on the back of a light truck help keep people safe during minor road works without the need for a lot of orange road cones. Photo / Tauranga City Council

Tauranga is trialling a way to reduce the road cones and disruption from roadworks on local routes – and “quadruple” output.

Tauranga City Council said in a statement traffic management plans often required static signs and road cones to be used around the work site.

Council road maintenance contract manager Garry Oakes said for straightforward maintenance jobs on low-traffic roads, such as painting line markings, the traffic management set up could take longer than the job itself.

“We’ve been trialling a new method which involves using traffic signals mounted on the back of a utility vehicle or light truck to alert drivers to the works.

“A road marking buggy is transported to the site on a trailer to undertake the work, and safety is maintained with a site traffic management supervisor watching out for people moving around the worksite.”

He said other staff could remain in their vehicles, which reduced health and safety risks.

“Once the paint is dry, we can pack up and move on to the next job. Having smaller equipment also makes the work less intrusive for residents.”

Road cones are a familiar sight on Tauranga roads. Photo / Alex Cairns.

Much of this line marking work was done at night to avoid disruption on the road, but it could be a minor noise nuisance for residents.

“Reducing the time spent at each site is a win-win,” said Oakes.

The trial will extend to daytime line marking, and line marking on arterial (high-traffic-volume) roads.

The statement said the innovation had been successfully tested at two sites and will continue to be trialled until July 2025 to monitor the results.

The work is being undertaken by Tauranga company Complete Traffic Services.

“We expect that we will be able to quadruple our output – completing four jobs an hour instead of one - which means better value for money without sacrificing safety or quality,” Oakes said.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale said excessive road cone use and temporary traffic management costs have been high on the agenda for improvement with central government this year, with Transport Minister Simeon Brown requiring local road controlling authorities such as councils to provide quarterly reports on temporary traffic management spending.

“I applaud this initiative and the innovation shown. This represents value for money for our ratepayers and less disruption for drivers,” said Drysdale.

“I support any initiative to reduce road cones and temporary traffic management costs, and this not only does this without compromising safety but also improving productivity.”