Cones left lying on the road - locals have seen them lying here for a long time Photo: RNZ/ Tom Kitchin
A spreadsheet full of crosses shows how masses of road cones inhabited a short stretch of highway for most of the last eight years.
The government is on the war-path against what one minister has called "the sea of orange road cones that have taken over the country".
State Highway 58 has been full of them, for a very long time, a newly released Official Information Act response from NZTA shows.
The 6km stretch up Haywards Hill to Judgeford had one of the worst safety records of any highway before roadworks began.
"It is why the project was approved and implemented - to make the road safer for the public," NZTA said.
"We have always tried to strike a balance between project completion and the needs of road users."
Now most of the highway is safer, but getting there took a different toll on motorists.
"I was stunned at how often I had to deal with temporary traffic solutions and wayward Hayward road cones (Wellington is windy, who would've thought?)," one motorbiker emailed RNZ.
Roadworkers have always needed cones to keep them safe on active corridors; there have been horrific fatalities in recent years. That has contributed to tighter rules that have increased the extent of traffic control measures.
A Transport Ministry report commented recently:
"Health and safety standards for road maintenance have seen an [approximate ] 80 percent reduction in the number of potholes filled per day."
Crews that had filled a maximum of 50 potholes a day, were down to just 10 a day "because of the time required to temporarily close and manage lanes safely", it said.
SH58 has needed a lot more work than for pothole filling - it has been widened and straightened, and wire-rope median barriers and more barriers put in - and thus alot more traffic control.
"Due to the requirements of the Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management ... cones would have been required in all" traffic control areas, said Waka Kotahi in the OIA.
The Haywards Hill interchange / State Highway 58 in Lower Hutt. Photo: Supplied / Downer
The counting of the road cones on the spreadsheet begins in September 2014 and ends on August 12, 2024.
Each X denotes a day with cones.
The spreadsheet is solid with Xs from July 2021 on, for the next three years.
Prior to 2021, Xs mark at least half the days, back to 2016.
The motorbiker was perplexed.
"Seven - 8 years worth of work on a road that never gets wider than 3 lanes that bridges two large suburbs in our capital city just doesn't sound right to me," he said.
However, the importance of the road is held up by the Transport Agency as a reason for all the work, no matter how long it takes.
"The project has taken longer to complete compared to other projects that can mostly be built away from busy active roads," it said.
It had to avoid work in peak traffic periods, cutting down crews' hours and lengthening the job.
"We acknowledge the frustration that comes with prolonged periods of construction.
"NZTA/Waka Kotahi appreciates the project has been disruptive over several years. However, SH58 is an important state highway link that carries more than 20,000 vehicles per day."
Road cones still pepper a series of roundabouts at the inlet end of of SH58, beneath the flyover of Transmission Gully motorway at Pauatahanui.
"These roundabouts have cones in place as part of a measure to help reduce wrong-way driving", up the motorway off-ramps for example, the agency said.
It was still deciding whether to make this "dogleg layout" permanent or not.
The nationwide costs of road cones and traffic controls will be reported back to the Transport Minister for the first time in November.
Simeon Brown laid this new expectation on NZTA earlier this year, saying in July that road cones and traffic management were "out of control".
The traffic control rules themselves are changing, to try to more efficiently match control measures (like cones) to the risks of a specific job.
The escalating costs under the old rules reflect not just how many cones there are, but how long they hang around.
On SH58, while the worst and windiest 5km is now complete after a marathon eight years, the job is not done.
"Works are to be finished in other areas along the corridor," NZTA said.
"Traffic management is in place to ensure the safety of drivers and roadworkers."
