Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / James Smith: General Manager of Policy and Advocacy at the National Road Carriers Association on the Brynderwyns reopening from next week

Transcript

James Smith: General Manager of Policy and Advocacy at the National Road Carriers Association on the Brynderwyns reopening from next week · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Going Saga of the Brindeau and Hills gets a positive
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: update for Marto Riqi weekend in Zta. They're in the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: process of finishing the remainder of those closure works. They
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: will reopen the road this Wednesday. James Smith is with
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  Speaker 1: the National Road Carrier's Union. James Morning, Good morning, Mike.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: You'll be looking forward to it. The thing I've always
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: found a bit weird as they open it for Marto
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Rican and I get why that is, and that's for cars,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: whereas you guys have had to do the back road
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  Speaker 1: for all that long. Do you reckon there's enough emphasis
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: on trucks and you know, getting stuff to market in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: this country or not.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: No, not not amongst the general public. But n ZTA
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: get it. And I mean they've been working as hard
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  Speaker 2: as I can to get this thing repaired and ready
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: for to get the trucks back where they need to
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: be on the state highway.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: How bad has it been in terms of the diversion.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been. It's been difficult because I mean effectively
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: you're putting putting trucks on back onto local roads where
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: you know, there's state highways for that sort of thing.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: So it has provided increased cost to operators, especially those
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: that are operating on higher mess because they've had quite
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: a significant diversion that they have to go to Dargable
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  Speaker 2: to get one array, which is not great.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Is the fix. So they've done two fixes. One they
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: thought they had it, then it fell over again, and
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  Speaker 1: so the fix this time is that they've got some
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  Speaker 1: room on the side. Should it go again to keep
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: going with the traffic and then fix it on the side.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Should they have done that in the first place, Well,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: that's what.
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  Speaker 2: They were attempting to do, so then the slip came down.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: So this is important to note that this repair that
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: they've done really only gives us another seven years in
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: the brand doings, and then the whole lot's coming down.
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  Speaker 2: So what we're sort of saying is is, Okay, we've
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: got the fix under wave that keeps it going for
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: seven years, but let's get on with straight as fast
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: as we can building that diversion. Because if the previous
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: government had have actually continued and done the diversion, the
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: darn thing would have been just about it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Understand, I mean you will have been on that road north.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I mean that that is a world class road. And
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  Speaker 1: then all of a sudden bingo the roundabouts there and
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  Speaker 1: it stops, and you think, why the hell didn't they
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: just carry on?
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  Speaker 2: And that's just a very good example of the stop start,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: stop start. That the political football that is infrastructure in
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand, and that's just got to stop. We're going
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  Speaker 2: to have a fifty year plan. We just got to
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  Speaker 2: crack on and get it done.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: The unfairness and for people listening around the country, you
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: don't know that particular part of the world. I mean,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: you can't have a whole region just cut off in
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a third world goat track sort of way, can you.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: No, you can't. And in North London's Northunder's suffered from
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: decades of under investment and transport infrastructure, and you've got
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: other parts of the country that are similarly face you
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: look at the East coast of the North Island which
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: are absolutely totally reliant on a reliable stay high anywhere.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Well, let's opened, let's hope something good happens as martin
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Rica weekend unless people get up to Northland and spend
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a bit of money in that particular part of the world.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: James appreciate it. General Manager of Policy and Advocacy at
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the National Road Carriers Union.
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• 3:08
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• 3:10
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