50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
17 February 2022
John Trafalgar
[FYI request #18286 email]
REF: OIA-9382
Dear John
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your request
of 22 January 2022 requesting information regarding State Highway 16
(SH16) signage under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). I have provided a response to each
of your requests below.
1. When did the change take place?
The change took place in mid to late 2019, as part of the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate project.
2. Please provide any internal policy, operational procedural and/or guidance documents in
relation to the naming of a motorway signage (in relation to what geographical references to
put for an exit).
The document that falls within the scope of this part of your request is publicly available on the Waka
Kotahi website and can be found in section 4.2 here: www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/traffic-
control-devices-manual/docs/part-2-draft-direction-service-and-general.pdf.
As such, this part of your request is refused under section 18(d) of the Act as the information is
publicly available.
3. How much did it cost to make the changes described above (changing several signs to read
"Upper Harbour Hwy" instead of "North Shore") - please break down the costs to materials,
labour and other expenses.
The signs were already due to be replaced as part of the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate project. There was
no additional cost for the change in stage name from
North Shore to
Upper Harbour Hwy.
4. Further to (3) above, please advise the rationale and/or justification for spending the
taxpayers' funds.
The stage name was changed because of complaints of driver confusion following the completion of
the Waterview Tunnel project. As noted above, the signage was already due to be replaced as part of
the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate project so there was no additional cost to make this change.
5. Please provide any internal documents, meeting minutes, memos, approval records for
proposing, justifying and approval the changes and the expenditure.
Any documents showing evidence of the proposal, justification, and approval of the changes will be
part of the wider SH16 Lincoln to Westgate project documentation. The stage name change was not a
significant decision, and so all project documents would need to be reviewed to determine which
documents would be in scope of your request. As such, I am refusing this part of your request under
section 18(f) as the information cannot be found without substantial collation.
6. Please explain why all signages have been changed, except for the one at the actual exit?
As noted above, the signage was changed because of complaints of driver confusion following the
completion of the Waterview Tunnel project. The signage at the exit was beyond the scope of the
SH16 Lincoln to Westgate project and would have required additional expenditure to change..
However, we expect that these will be replaced in time as part of regular maintenance/renewals
activity.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to refuse
part of this request. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi, please email
[email address].
Yours sincerely
Jacqui Hori-Hoult
Regional Manager Maintenance and Operations
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