1st july 2021
5th ANNIVERSARY edition
Five years ago, on 1st July 2016, the Northland Transportation Alliance (NTA) was established. This provided a new and innovative approach to delivering Northland's transportation programmes through a collaboration between local government (Far North, Kaipara and Whangarei District Councils along with Northland Regional Council) and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).
The NTA is designed to deliver and improve roading and transportation outcomes in Northland. The creation of the Alliance positioned Northland at the forefront of local government innovation and responsiveness to the challenges of infrastructure management and delivery.
It's hard to believe that five years has passed already, with the organisation looking very different to the early days when Neil Cook took on the role of initial set up. As you'll see in this publication there's been a fair amount achieved, both in developing our own internal culture and organisational maturity as well as achieving improved transportation network outcomes.
This edition of Mahi Tahi provides an opportunity to look back, reflect and celebrate some of the key successes achieved and delivered through the NTA (and it's Alliance partners) over the past five years.
As with any organisation, we are only as good as our people. It's fair to say our organisation, including our contractors and consultants, is made up of some really great talent...but, even more importantly, every one of the staff within the NTA is genuinely driven by the challenge of working to deliver our vision of "Collectively creating better, safer and more accessible journeys across Northland"
With solid foundations now in place, we're well positioned to build on the outcomes already achieved and continue to working towards delivering further improvements in the Northland Transport network.
Ngā mihi,
Calvin Thomas, General Manager, NTA
Photo: Official launch of the NTA in July 2016. Pictured left to right: John Carter QSO (Mayor, Far North District Council), Ed Varley (Senior Network Manager, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency), Sheryl Mai (Mayor, Whangarei District Council), Bill Shepherd (Chair, Northland Regional Council) and John Robertson (Chief Commissioner, Kaipara District Council).
OUr people
Our 65 staff, employed by the four Northland Councils, work collaboratively with our stakeholders (councils and ratepayers) and service delivery partners (contractors and consultants) to enable Northland to thrive through delivering safe, innovative, consistent and high quality transportation outcomes.
Our Organisational Culture & Values
- Tūponotanga: Integrity - We are honest in all we do and we deliver with openness and transparency.
- Te Auahatanga: Innovative - We are open and flexible in the ways we work to deliver a better transport network for Northland.
- Te Mahi Ngātahi: Team Work - We work together as one to deliver better and safer transportation for the people of Northland.
- Te Tikanga Tiakai Tangata: Respect - We acknowlege, understand and accept diversity whilst supporting and celebrating good ideas.
- Kaitiakitanga: Custodians - Developing and improving Northland's transportation network.
- Manaakitanga - Generosity and care for our people, our partners, our communities and our visitors.
Recent staff surveys indicate we're well on our way to creating our desired culture within the organisation, with 92% of staff participating in the survey showing a positive engagement of 66%. While the engagement score is a small drop from 70% last year, similar engagement score reductions have also been seen in individual Council surveys and likely reflects the massive workloads placed on the team over the last year developing 2021/24 AMP submissions, supporting LTP & RLTP development and working to deliver a record Regional transport programme.
Attracting a skilled workforce
In early 2019 the NTA undertook a structural re-organisation, moving staff from working primarily for their home Councils, to working across the region in the following functional work streams -
- Strategy, Planning and Transport
- Capital Works and Procurement
- Maintenance and Operations
- Business Performance and Support
The functional structure allows the NTA to deploy staff to work more effectively. Tasks are allocated based on skill set and capability as opposed to who an individual's hiring Council is and with this model now fully embedded, 15-20% of the work completed for each District Council is now undertaken by people employed by one of the other partner Councils.
Associated with this structure change was a significant recruitment programme. 28 individual roles were filled (including internal promotions to key leadership positions, filling of historic vacancies, introduction of graduate positions and strengthening of core technical capabilities) in the 18 month period between February 2019 and August 2020
In addition to providing advancement opportunities for several existing staff, this recruitment included bringing in 13 new staff from outside the Northland Region. Many of these recruits indicated they were attracted by the concept of the NTA, and the opportunity to work across the Region within the Alliance, and they would not likely have been inclined to move for a single council position.
Our deliverables:
The agreed Strategic Deliverables of the NTA are:
- To be an industry leader in Asset Management
- Improve the reach of the public transport network
- Deliver the Capital Works programmes
- Deliver the Maintenance programmes
- Lift the quality of customer experience, and
- Prove a demonstrable improvement in the Northland Transport network.
In addition, several non-financial benefits were also highlighted in the original business case being:
- Increased Regional capacity and capability through staff specialisation
- Improved customer service and improved engagement with stakeholders by having a wider talent pool of expertise
- Greater resilience in business continuity with the ability to deploy resources across the Region
- Enhanced ability to respond more quickly and effectively to emergency events.
- Better development opportunities for staff and a more attractive employment proposition for potential recruits
- Less reliance on consultants as in-house resources develop
- Commitment to best practice health and safety for internal operations and external suppliers.
some of What we've achieved
Industry Leader in Asset Management
NTA staff take a lead role in the development of the Draft Regional Land Transport Plans, with the 2021/27 (RLTP) and the Draft Regional Public Transport Plan 2021/27 (RPTP) being recently completed to a high standard.
NZTA rated WDC's 2018/21 Activity Management Plan (AMP) as one of the top three in the country. Building upon this, the Asset Strategy Team utilised the WDC 2018/21 AMP as the basis for a combined Northland Region 2021/24 AMP, which recently received the following feedback following Waka Kotahi's initial review:
- “This AMP is assessed as an excellent example of a Strategic Case, Programme Business Case (PBC), Detailed Business Case.
- The in-depth analysis of: Demand and Growth, Problems Benefits and Consequences, Root Cause Analysis, Option development, Low Cost Low Risk (LCLR) etc. provide sound evidence that the Northland Network is being managed with sound asset management principles. (Holistic, Systematic, Systemic, Risk based, Optimal & Integrated.)
- Section 4.17 State of the Network provides excellent modelling analysis and options assessment for the sealed pavement.
- The PBC with; Root Cause analysis, Option Development and Assessment provide excellent evidence using PMRT and Peer Group comparison analysis and discussion.
- The Principal Structures Engineer has reviewed the Work Categories 215 (Structural Component Replacement) & 216 (Bridge Renewals) programmes in depth with the AO consultant and made some suggestions to the programme which have been agreed.
- NTA have been consistently diligent with completing and documenting the NZTA 2018/21 Funding conditions.”
In an effort to introduce greater consistency across the region, and lift the quality of outcomes, the NTA have also facilitated the development of the following Regional Strategies:
- Sealed Road Strategy: To identify a programme of works using dTIMs* modelling incorporating road texture, potholes and cracking to maintain and renew the current road network. *dTIMs (Deighton Total Infrastructure Management System) software solution is a powerful decision support tool for making consistent, accurate and informed decisions concerning the life-cycle of assets such as roads and bridges)
- Unsealed Roads Centre of Excellence Strategy: to create (for the first time in New Zealand) a dTIMs model to identify a programme of works for unsealed road strengthening and application of an improved quality wearing course and its continual ongoing maintenance.
- Roads Resilience Strategy: To identify the quantity of resilience slips on our road and create a model to prioritise the forward work programme.
- Roads Forestry Model: to supplement the unsealed road strategy a forestry model was developed to identify the planned logging routes and the potential loading impacts on our unsealed network.
- Drainage Maintenance Intervention Strategy: To identify, quantify and prioritise maintenance intervention works for the existing drainage network.
- Retaining Walls: To identify the quantity of retaining walls along five various risk rated road corridors and then record their condition for development of the programme of works.
- Bridge Strategy: To identify an inspection programme for the identification of maintenance, component replacement parts and complete renewals of bridges on the network, along with 50MAX assessments.
Good Asset Management hinges on good data and, through the efforts of our staff and maintenance contractors, 2020 Audit results show significant improvements in all Council's data quality measures.
Improve the reach of the public transport network
Our public transport team are continually searching for opportunities to expand the patronage and services of Northland's Public Transport network. Current service offerings include:
- City Link
- Mid North Link
- Hokianga Link
- Far North Link
- Bream Bay Link (introduced 2019)
- Hikurangi Link (introduced 2020)
- Whangarei Heads Link (introduced 2020)
NTA staff worked collaboratively with a group of seven other provincial councils across New Zealand to implement a card for use on public transport. Whangarei ran the initial trials and were first to introduce the Bee Card making bus travel throughout Whangarei easier. The Bee Card can also be used on public transport in The Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu-Whanganui, Invercargill, Nelson, Taranaki and Otago.
1,316 clients in the 2021/21 year in Northland made use of the Total Mobility scheme which enables people with disabilities stay connected within their community.
To ensure appropriate value and service was being provided, in 2020 NTA staff facilitated the re-tender, award of contract and transfer of management of the Hokianga Ferry Services and Maintenance Contract to Fullers Bay of Islands.
Deliver the Capital Works programme
The NTA Capital Works and Procurement team have developed a detailed Regional Capital Forward Works programme which provides:
- Forward visibility of work to Contractors
- Milestone reporting of project progress (inception through to construction)
- Project status updates and risk monitoring
- Project and budget expenditure monitoring
The introduction of this approach has enabled the team, with support and buy-in from our Contractors and Consultants, to deliver more than ever before. The 2020/21 Capital Works projects delivered through the NTA this past year valued at approximately $70m across the Region, including over $15m of newly introduced Central Government Funded (PGF, CIP, Worker Redeployment) projects.
2020/21 Delivery highlights
Deliver the Maintenance programme
In 2018 the NTA developed, tendered and awarded five aligned performance based, inspection led and asset condition monitoring focused maintenance contracts across region. These contracts provide for:
- Regional collaboration - providing the best outcomes for Northland
- Establishment of a sustainable supplier market with more tender bids and value for money through quality and savings
- Resilience - improved ability to respond to emergencies across the Region
- Requirement for a defined percentage (30%) of work to be sub-contracted through to local contractors
- The introduction of automated maintenance management tools
- A conscious change from 'running' contracts to actively and professionally 'managing and leading'
- A tangible decrease in the recorded number of customer complaints since the introduction of new Maintenance contracts
- Having maintenance programmes directly linked to Asset Management Plans, with maintenance outcomes informing future plans
Audit Lead Programmes - out on the networks
The Maintenance Contracts are based on an Audit led philosophy, with Contractor inspectors assessing each road in the district in varying frequencies (weekly through to bi-monthly) determined by the road classification and historic volumes of defects identified. The inspection locations covered (by both Contractors and NTA staff) are GPS tracked to enable them to be displayed pictorially each month.
Identified defects are classified as either "routine" or "ordered works". Rectifying routine defects is covered under the Contractor's monthly lump sum payment and are required to be completed within specified timeframes (generally 10 working days), with ordered works requiring assessment, prioritisation and approval by NTA staff, taking into account available budgets, before they are scheduled to proceed.
NTA staff undertake audits of the Contractor's covering items such as inspection quality, routine work completion within timeframes and work quality, with the results of these audit findings informing the monthly Key Performance Measures (KPMs).
Managing our Unsealed Network
Much like the approach to our Capital Works programme, the Maintenance Team have transitioned to a formal Forward Works Programme (FWP) for the maintenance and upgrading of unsealed roads. Utilising asset condition data we identify the highest priority roads and target these for full Heavy Metaling, Drainage, Water-tabling and Cross-fall correction work. Through this approach, combined with the application of Paige-Green specification aggregate blends, a longer wearing and more consistent road surface is produced.
This is a change to the more reactive approach of the past and we are seeing great results where this is applied, with less maintenance interventions required following completion of works and a smoother, more durable road surface provided.
With the philosophy of "do it once, do it all and do it right" comes some challenges, and while KDC have additional PGF funding to accelerate this work, generally current Council budgets only allow approximately 6-8% of the total unsealed network to be fully treated each year. With this constraint the Maintenance Team work closely with the Asset Management team to analyse road condition data to ensure the roads of greatest need are prioritised for treatment.
Application of Dust Suppression
The combination of unsealed roads, dry weather and heavy vehicle traffic creates dust, and to reduce the impact on this on residents during dry summers, NTA staff work with local forestry companies to fund and facilitate the application of Dust Suppression treatment on key areas across the FNDC & WDC networks .
In 2020/21, Dust suppression was applied to seven individual roads in Whangarei (30 properties) and over 50 roads (>150 properties) in the Far North, with evidence of the effectiveness of this treatment shown in the video below.
Lifting the quality of customer experience
Partnerships with Northland Road Safety and Far North REAP have been established with a goal of implementing the Road to Zero strategy across Northland Communities, incorporating a safe system approach which targets safe roads, safe speeds, safe vehicles and safe road use.
We are also working to providing the community with alternatives to car usage. In the case of the Kamo Shared Path this alternate is a shared path between 8 schools as well as supermarkets, the CBD, retirement homes and thousands of households. The path sees between 1,500-2,000 users most week days, with further shared path developments presently under construction.
The NTA team also oversee the operation and maintenance of Te Matau ā Pohe, the iconic harbour bridge in Whangarei, which gives motorists an alternative route around the Town Basin whilst ensuring local yachties are still able to arrive and depart.
The NTA Corridor Access Request (CAR) team provides regional oversight and approvals of Traffic Management Plans (TMPs) for any proposed work or event which would affect traffic flows and safety on roads in Northland.
NTA staff have been active participants in the Innovating Streets programme (funded by Waka Kotahi) which provides funding to enact simple physical changes to street design to help reduce vehicle speeds and create more space for people. Changes can include piloting new walking or cycling facilities, trialing low-traffic neighbourhoods or reallocating street space for people. Projects currently receiving funding are in Kawakawa, Moerewa, Kaikohe, Kerikeri, Mangawhai and Whangarei.
Prove a demonstrable improvement in the Northland Transport network
As part of the formation of the NTA, Mangakahia Road was reclassified as a State Highway (SH15) and became the Inland Freight Route. Changing the road to a state highway ensured there are three strong routes connecting Northland, making the network more resilient to unplanned incidents and weather events and balancing the needs to local communities, tourists, and light and heavy vehicles. The costs of maintaining this road that were previously the responsibility of WDC & FNDC (around $1.3m per annum) was able to be reinvested in local road maintenance activities.
As part of working towards the desired outcomes of the Road to Zero National Road Safety Strategy, the NTA have initiated a catchment based approach to speed limit reviews, utilising crash analysis data to identified highest priority catchments for review. The catchment approach allows for reviews to be completed based on geographic areas, often spanning District Council Boundaries, and where it is identified that the current speed limits do not match the road environment this is remedied through a combination of speed limit reductions and infrastructure investment.
Retrofitting the regions nearly 8,000 street lights has been undertaken (at a cost of $6.2m) from sodium yellow bulbs to white light-emitting LEDs to reduce power consumption and maintenance costs, while at the same time improving the quality of lighting at night. Now the replacement programme has been completed, an infill lighting project is now underway to further improve lighting standards across the network. This year alone, this infill project has delivered an additional $4m of work including:
- Removed 74 old light columns
- Removed 174 old luminaries
- Installed 340 new light columns
- Installed 542 new luminaries
Regional contract service and licensing engagements have been implemented to take advantage of increased regional buying power, with competitive pricing and ensuring availability of resources, providing an average contract saving of 6-8% for these targeted services.
NTA staff, in partnership with Waka Kotahi and key Northland Cycling advocacy groups have actively worked to develop Regional cycling trails for local tourism and open up areas to new economic opportunities
Opportunities for the Region
Having a region-wide focus enabled the NTA to work across the region with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) along with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to create work for local people impacted by the Covid Lockdown, along with facilitating the delivery of opportunities created by "shovel ready" projects funded by the Government.
At the peak of the $9.3m Te Tai Tokerau Worker Redeployment programme 293 full-time positions were created, with 98 of these reported as workers who were previously unemployed. Work included removal of self-seeded roadside trees, roading sightline improvements and vegetation clearance, roadside litter collection, spot spraying of noxious weeds, new footpaths, accelerated unsealed network grading program and park upgrades.
Over 50% of the work (>$5m) was undertaken by local Northland businesses and, in addition to the social employment objectives achieved by the programme, sustainable environmental practices were adopted - for example, where pest trees were felled they were cut into firewood or mulch and made available to local households and community groups and, where appropriate, areas was replanted with native trees.
Being part of a COVID response package there was a requirement to commence and complete within short timeframes. Execution of this work was facilitated through our existing Maintenance Contracts and, coming on top of already large work volumes for the year, it could not have been achieved without the collaborative and willing approach of our three primary maintenance contractors (Downer, Fulton Hogan & Ventia).
Response to emergency events
In July 2020 Northland was hit by a significant storm event bringing heavy rainfall and flooding, with some areas exceeding 250mm of rain in 24 hours. This resulted in slips and considerable damage to roads. (Photo - damage at Pikiwahine).
The Region faced extensive, urgent, recovery work throughout the network and through close working relationships between NTA staff and our maintenance contractors, initial response and repairs were undertaken in the following weeks, with more extensive repairs prioritised and undertaken over the following 12 months.
Through the use of an additional $4m of storm response MBIE funding ($2m FNDC / $2m WDC) we have been able to not only make repairs, but also implement key improvements across the network to reduce future potential storm damage.
