50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
25 January 2023
Jessica Smith
[FYI request #21497 email]
REF: OIA-11788
Dear Jessica Smith
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email
of 30 December 2022 requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
1. Does NZTA directly source orange road cones, or is it though subcontractors/government
contracts?
2. What is the price of a road cones? Individual y/in bulk
3. What is the road cones per Capita in NZ? How does this compare to international OECD
standards?
4. Can you provide any and al policies relating to the procurement and placement of road
cones?
5. How many complaints per quarter were made about road cones in the last 5 years?
6. Is there evidence more road cones increase public safety?
7. What are the road cones alternatives NZTA is looking into?
8. Does NZTA have a policy around road cones and climate change?
9.
Do road cones reduce ram raids?
For the sake of clarity, I wil respond to your questions in turn.
1. Does NZTA directly source orange road cones, or is it though subcontractors/government
contracts?
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency does not directly source road cones. These are owned by our
contractors.
2. What is the price of a road cones? Individual y/in bulk
This part of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act as the information you have
requested is not held by Waka Kotahi. As noted above, road cones are procured and owned by our
contractors.
3. What is the road cones per Capita in Nz? How does this compare to international OECD
standards?
This part of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act as the information you have
requested is not held by Waka Kotahi.
4. Can you provide any and al policies relating to the procurement and placement of road cones?
Waka Kotahi does not hold information relating to the procurement of road cones; therefore, this part
of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act.
The current guidance for the placement of road cones is the Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic
Management (CoPTTM: Part 8 of the Traffic Control Devices manual (TCD Manual), Section C. This
can be accessed via the Waka Kotahi website at the following link: www.nzta.govt.nz/roads-and-
rail/code-of-practice-for-temporary-traffic-management/code-of-practice/copttm-document/.
Waka Kotahi is currently developing a new approach to how temporary traffic management wil be
delivered on Aotearoa New Zealand’s state highways and roads. The new guidance aligns with
Worksafe’s Road Good Practice Guidelines (2022) and wil be implemented from 2023 in stages to
eventually replace CoPTTM.
5. How many complaints per quarter were made about road cones in the last 5 years?
This information is supplied as Appendix A and should be viewed alongside the enclosed caveats.
6. Is there evidence more road cones increase public safety?
Road cones are an internationally standard way of marking hazards, including at roadworks and at
road maintenance worksites. They play an important part of traffic management activities as
delineation devices, for keeping motorists and our contractors safe around work sites and when road
conditions change.
7. What are the road cones alternatives NZTA is looking into?
Road cones remain an effective tool in traffic management. Section B of the CoPTTM sets out the
different vertical delineators approved for use in traffic management activities. Waka Kotahi is not
currently looking into alternative options to replace road cones.
8. Does NZTA have a policy around road cones and climate change?
No, Waka Kotahi does not have a policy around road cones and climate change.
9.
Do road cones reduce ram raids? This part of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act as the information you have
requested is not held by Waka Kotahi, nor do we have reason to believe it would be held by any other
government agency.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision on your
request. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
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In line with Waka Kotahi policy, this response wil soon be published on our website, with personal
information removed.
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi, please contact Ministerial Services at
[NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
Josh Driscol
Principal Advisor Transport Services
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Appendix A: Number of complaints logged in the Waka Kotahi CRMS about road cones in the
last five years, broken down by quarter
Calendar year
Quarter
Quarterly Total
Yearly Total
2018
Jan-Feb-Mar
3
2018
Apr-May-Jun
3
2018
Jul-Aug-Sep
6
2018
Oct-Nov-Dec
1
13
2019
Jan-Feb-Mar
10
2019
Apr-May-Jun
6
2019
Jul-Aug-Sep
5
2019
Oct-Nov-Dec
2
23
2020
Jan-Feb-Mar
2
2020
Apr-May-Jun
0
2020
Jul-Aug-Sep
4
2020
Oct-Nov-Dec
4
10
2021
Jan-Feb-Mar
4
2021
Apr-May-Jun
1
2021
Jul-Aug-Sep
2
2021
Oct-Nov-Dec
1
8
2022
Jan-Feb-Mar
0
2022
Apr-May-Jun
1
2022
Jul-Aug-Sep
1
2022
Oct-Nov-Dec
2
4
Five Year Total
58
Caveats:
• Data is extracted from the NZTA SAP Customer Relationship Management System (CRMS) and is
current as at 13 January 2023.
• Data in the NZTA SAP CRMS excludes:
o complaints received directly by individual capital projects;
o complaints Auckland Motorway Al iance (until 30 June 2019) or the Auckland System
Management contract (from 1 July 2019)
o complaints relating to local roads (except in some regions), and
o complaints or messages received via media or social media channels.
• Waka Kotahi’s definition of a complaint is ‘… any expression of dissatisfaction where a customer
expects a response or resolution - even if they don’t specifical y ask for one. A complaint identifies
a problem or gap between people's expectations and what was delivered.’ Additional y, a complaint
is ‘any submission that comes through our complaints form on the NZTA website.’
• The table above provides for the past five years (to date 13 January 2023), the number of customer
interactions classified as complaints and containing the keyword CONE, logged in Waka Kotahi the
NZ Transport Agency’s Customer Relationship Management System (NZTA SAP CRMS).
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