This page relates to the 2024–27 National Land Transport Programme.
This page sets out the requirements for developing and prioritising road maintenance programmes for the 2024–27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP). It includes further requirements regarding links to planning, levels of service, business case assessment and funding decisions, and conditions of funding.
We (NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) as investor) will assess all elements of the road maintenance programme and its supporting information to inform National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) funding from the following activity classes:
Local road and state highway operations
Local road and state highway pothole prevention
Local road and state highway improvements
Road maintenance programmes are continuous programmes of activities required to maintain appropriate levels of service for all modes on the roading, footpath and cycling network. As continuous programmes, they have no start or end date. However, the detail required to establish the appropriate investment levels is developed on a 3-year cycle that aligns with the NLTP cycle. Approval of funding assistance from the NLTF within each of the relevant activity classes normally covers the 3-year period of each NLTP and is made when the NLTP is adopted by the NZTA Board.
We expect approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) to follow our investment principles in developing and delivering their road maintenance programmes.
Emergency works are an exception to the above in that expenditure is considered for NLTF approval from the local road or state highway operations activity classes during the course of the NLTP in response to each event. Funding is approved individually on a project basis, with start and end dates for the immediate response and recovery works to address the impact of major, short duration, sudden l events, for example severe storm events.
We expect approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) to link their proposals to long-term planning documents, in particular:
These documents should describe the information and assumptions underlying the network management.
The information approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) provide in Transport Investment Online (TIO) to support the funding sought for maintenance programmes through the relevant activity class should refer to the relevant parts of long-term planning documents.
Transport Investment Online(external link)
Approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) will develop forward work programmes and budgets for the road maintenance programme to support greater consistency in the delivery of customer levels of service as set out in the One Network Framework (ONF).
The road maintenance programme should demonstrate:
Activities that seek to enhance the level of service through increased activity in the local road or state highway operations and pothole prevention and walking and cycling activity classes must clearly demonstrate the value proposition in respect to sound asset management and the Government Policy Statement on land transport strategic priorities. Activities that seek to enhance the level of service through a step change in investment to significantly improve standards and scope of asset coverage are prioritised as improvements under a different activity class. Approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) seeking additional investment to lift the level of service will need to provide evidence for the investment, following the Business Case Approach, for it to be tested against other investments to ensure it demonstrates value for money.
Business Case Approach guidance
The ONF is the national classification system for roads and streets. It helps in establishing transport network function, performance measures, operating gaps and potential interventions for each road and street type. The ONF replaced the One Network Road Classification and has been in place since 2021.
All approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) are required to provide evidence of the customer levels of service they propose to deliver and how these relate to the ONF.
Maintenance programme submissions from approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) may be supported by and take account of a wider set of performance measures than those currently mandated in support of the ONF. For example, an approved organisation may wish to support their submission with their long-term planning measures and any measures mandated by the Department of Internal Affairs in addition to the ONF measures.
For the allocation of maintenance programme funding from the relevant activity class in the 2024–27 NLTP, we will focus primarily on the assessment of transport network performance as measured against ONF requirements.
Details of road operations, maintenance, renewal and improvements activities must be held by the organisation responsible for the programme.
Consideration should be given to:
Differences in levels of service will have an impact on funding assistance.
For further information, refer to requirements of a road maintenance programme.
Requirements of a road maintenance programme
We recommend early engagement with our investment advisors as they are available for support and guidance throughout the business case process. See also Business Case Approach guidance on our website.
Business Case Approach guidance
Early engagement and assessment will:
We:
Road maintenance programmes are prioritised under the NZTA Investment Prioritisation Method for the 2024–27 NLTP (IPM).
2024–27 NLTP Investment Prioritisation Method
The IPM includes details for the road maintenance programme, see page 9 for ‘Prioritisation of continuous programmes’ and page 10 for ‘Maintenance programme’.
Final 2024-27 Investment Prioritisation Method [PDF, 728 KB]
Typically, we will approve funding for a road maintenance programme for all 3 years in an NLTP, as part of the NLTP adoption. However, we may decide to impose terms and conditions on funding for all or part of the approved programme, due to:
The terms and conditions may apply across all 3 years of an NLTP or to particular years. For example, we may approve funding the first year of a road maintenance programme in the newly adopted NLTP but set conditions that have to be met before funding is released in the subsequent year.
