Balancing customer needs with network activity
For any work happening on the state highway and wider network, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency must consider the impacts on road users. The interconnected nature of the system means there are flow-on effects for those travelling the network.
Wellington Urban Journey Manager Neil Beckett is responsible for encouraging teams to cast a customer lens over their work for opportunities to improve journeys for road users. This is done gaining insights from key stakeholders and customer groups and network performance data.
“I get involved throughout the life cycle of projects and try to prevent or limit disruptions to customers from planned activities.
“It’s essential to think about the needs of road users and communities early in the project design stage, so that we can prevent any problems occurring further down the line, when construction is underway.
“For work we’re doing on SH58 we consider the whole Wellington network and users and their modes of travel. This includes assessing the impacts from other construction work, such as Transmission Gully and Peka to Otaki, highway maintenance, and big regional events like music festivals and major sport fixtures.
"It’s also important to see what’s happening in the Manawatu and Wairarapa and consider the impact on longer journeys. We look at the time of year and whether the activity can be done at night or during off-peak hours,” says Neil.
He points out that SH58, as a key east-west connection between the Hutt Valley and Porirua/Kapiti, presents other complexities that have to be factored into construction activity. It has weekday morning and evening peak traffic flows in both directions.
Neil works closely with many teams, including Waka Kotahi’s Wellington Traffic Operations Centre that monitors traffic in real time across the region.
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