Activity Group: Roads and Footpaths Road safety The Council’s Network Outcomes Contract with Marlborough Roads continues to Marlborough Roads reviews road crashes in the Marlborough District on an ongoing deliver optimal costs and ongoing savings. This has enabled all maintenance and basis, and annually prioritises the budgets available to improve safety where the road renewals to be delivered within the budgets set by the Transport Agency. infrastructure is considered to be causing the most serious accidents. Reports are Funding levels have been set to ensure that levels of service over time will meet considered at the quarterly Road Safety Action Plan meetings which focus on ONRC requirements and the AMP has been updated to reflect these funding developing strategies with the Police, ACC and road safety coordinators to address requirements. Renewal programmes are only undertaken where they are economically safety issues. Safety reports are also presented quarterly to the Regional Land justified. Transport Committee, which reviews the latest data on local road and state highway safety performance. Footpaths and Street Parking Nationally there has been an upward trend in road fatalities in recent years and this is A formal monitoring system is now established to assess footpath condition in urban reflected in the Marlborough statistics showing an upward trend of serious and fatal areas. A full footpath rating is undertaken on a three yearly basis. casualties on local roads from 8 in 2014–15 to 13 in 2016–17. Council provides parking on urban streets where it is practicable and safe to do so. Roads are maintained through good quality pavements that are free of large potholes, Kerbside parking is either metered or time restricted in high use areas to ensure a edge breaks and other defects which may compromise safety. Management of icy road good turnover of usage, to encourage a vibrant retail environment. Off-street parking is conditions has been a winter focus, with no crashes causing injury reported in the last managed by Marlborough Roads (via a sub-contractor). year. Council also undertakes a road safety programme which provides educational advice Growing Marlborough Strategy to road users. The Growing Marlborough Strategy identified a number of options for upgrading the amenities of smaller towns and to keep them attractive and liveable. A strongly Road Quality consultative approach was taken which resulted in a programme of future urban amenity improvements. A budget of $5.5M has been allocated to carry out these Council maintains the quality of its roads by monitoring trends in pavement condition, improvements in consultation with these small communities. the age of surfacings, and undertaking structural inspections and repairs. Marlborough Roads schedules a renewals programme which ensures roads are renewed before (Funding for the upgrade of Blenheim’s CBD has been provided for five years maintenance costs become excessive. The proposed standards and forward beginning in 2019–20. This includes works relating to the area proposed for the programme of work are reviewed by the Transport Agency. The Transport Agency library redevelopment.) undertakes technical and procedural audits on a three yearly cycle. Asset Description Marlborough Roads also monitors unsealed roads. They are challenging to manage The table below provides an overview of Council’s roading assets. because they can deteriorate rapidly and are influenced by climatic and traffic variables. Marlborough Roads now has the capability to measure roughness to assist Asset Length / Quantity with determining the need for intervention treatments such as grading and roughness Road Length 1,547 km (917 km sealed, 630 km unsealed) management. Bridges 363 Marlborough's road pavement indicators compare favourably with peer agencies and Jetties 13 the Transport Agency’s requirements. 242 km (146 km concrete, 75 km asphalt, 9 km sealed, Urban Footpaths 12 km other materials) The draft 2018–21 Government Policy Statement (GPS) signals a continuation of the funding levels advised in the 2015–18 GPS. Council’s budgets align with the draft GPS The total asset value for the Roads and Footpaths Activity as at 30 June 2017 was funding signals. $675.2M. 2018-2028 Long Term Plan Page 69