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Ryan Bridge: The row over road cones is getting piping hot · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: The row over road cones is getting so piping hot
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: that somebody might soon blow a gasket. In the Herald
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: this morning, the boss of traffic management firm Traffics has
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  Speaker 1: laid into the Transport Minister, saying he and Wayne Brown
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: don't understand how the traffic industry works. He says they
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: don't charge per road cone for work, but rather per
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: worker and truck. He says the public is abusing his
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: staff on site because of misinformation that's being spread. The
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  Speaker 1: problem here is that we had this independent report and
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  Speaker 1: we spoke about this yesterday from Ey and it was
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  Speaker 1: pretty damning. It basically said that the rules, the current rules,
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  Speaker 1: incentivized contractors like Traffics to cause maximum disruption in order
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  Speaker 1: to maximize profits. And n ZTA looked at eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: maintenance work sites this is on the highway network. One
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  Speaker 1: hundred and forty five of them were not needed. Doesn't
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  Speaker 1: that make you blood boil Auckland Council alone apparently spending
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: one hundred and forty five million a year on road
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  Speaker 1: cones and temporary traffic management. There was a contractor this
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  Speaker 1: is around the corner from my place, quiet residential suburban street.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: There was a contract to digging a hole on the
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  Speaker 1: side of the road. Not a big hole, just a
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  Speaker 1: small hole. I could not believe that they closed the
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  Speaker 1: road down. There was down to one lane with stop
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  Speaker 1: ghost signs. This is the quietest street in the neighborhood.
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  Speaker 1: I just thought it was madness. I would never say
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  Speaker 1: anything to the workers, obviously because it's not their fault,
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  Speaker 1: but clearly, after the EY report and the message from NZTA,
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  Speaker 1: something needs to be fixed and fast. Wayne Brown wants
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  Speaker 1: the power to set fees and charge penalties if work
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  Speaker 1: drags on or wasn't needed in the first place, and
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: I say give it to him. For more from News
• 1:36
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