Transit New Zealand
(Māori: Ararau
Aotearoa) was, from 1989 to 2008, the New Zealand
Crown entity responsible
for operating and planning the New Zealand State Highway
network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads).
It also concerned itself with developments close to State Highways,
as it considered the potential additional traffic that these would
create, and it was responsible for State Highway landscaping.
Transit New Zealand was merged with
Land Transport New Zealand to
form the
New Zealand
Transport Agency on
1 August 2008 - however Transit's website is still active as of
June 2009, presumably until all information is transferred to new
NZTA website(s).
Structure
Transit had an annual operating budget of over NZ$1 billion and
about 450 staff, with much of its actual planning and design work
contracted out to construction companies and consultancies. Almost
all of its funding was approved by the government's land transport
funding agency
Land Transport
New Zealand through the
National Land Transport
Programme.Until 1996 Transit approved subsidies for passenger
transport services contracted by regional councils, before this was
devolved to Transfund (now Land Transport New Zealand).
However, the government proposed that Land Transport New Zealand
and Transit New Zealand be merged again, with some functions
devolved to the Ministry of Transport. This eventually took place
in 2008, creating the NZTA.
History
Transit New Zealand was the successor to similar previous entities.
The
Main Highways Board, created on
1
April 1924, to facilitate the overall
planning and control of roads on a national basis, especially
arterial routes, under the control of the
Public Works Department. After
World War II, the
National Roads Board was formed. During
this time, deferred maintenance and a great need for bridge works
were complicated by a lack of manpower, plant and materials at a
time when traffic volumes rose steeply and rural areas were opened
up to road traffic.
During the economic reforms of the 1980s direct Government control
of service provision was reduced, and new methods of providing for
roads were developed. On
1 April 1988, the Ministry of Works and Development was
corporatised and the National Roads Board's operational arm, the
Roading Division, was incorporated into the Ministry of Transport.
On
1 October 1989 it
became Transit New Zealand.
The agency also came under some criticism for being
'anti-development'.
It often lodged objections to resource
consent applications which in its opinion created safety or
capacity problems on close-by motorways (such as large retail
developments like Sylvia
Park
) or required substantial consultation and
mitigating measures for them before they were allowed to go
ahead. Rodney District
Council once threatened court action, alleging that the agency
was effectively preventing any substantial development within its
area.
References
External links