Whanganui District Council provides a road network that has an all-weather surface with good skid resistance, visibility and smoothness. It is capable of carrying both light and heavy vehicles.
Whanganui District Council’s roading network covers close to 1000 kilometres – 220 kilometres of urban roads, 615 kilometres of rural roads and 74 bridges.
Of the district’s urban roads, 99% (219 kilometres) are sealed, while 51% (314 kilometres) of rural roads are sealed.
Most road maintenance is subsidised – 39% is paid for by our ratepayers and 61% comes from the New Zealand Transport Agency (a central government agency).
Urban roads are swept to keep litter and dust to specified minimum standards. Safety is maintained by traffic control/calming devices – for example, signs, islands, flush medians, traffic lights, edge markers. Most sealed roads more than 5 metres wide have markings to guide traffic, and are repainted regularly to ensure they are clearly visible.
Unsealed roads are maintained to the following standards:
- Potholes are repaired before they reach 50mm depth.
- Corrugations are repaired before they reach 25mm depth.
- Grading to standard cross section profiles of 5–7% camber.
The Council provides road lighting, with brighter lighting on busy roads. Stormwater control is provided so that roads have limited ponding in all but large storms.
There are 20.6 kilometres of marked cycle lanes on busy and narrow roads, 8.8 kilometres of shared pathways (a dedicated pathway off the roadway for cyclists / walkers / scooters / skateboarders / mobility scooters) and eight service lanes (0.9 kilometres total) to give rear access to commercial properties in the central city.