Attachment A Report Wellington Traffic System Performance Monitoring March 2012 Prepared for NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) (Client) By Beca Infrastructure Ltd (Beca) 8 May 2012 RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT © Beca 2012 (unless Beca has expressly agreed otherwise with the Client in writing). This report has been prepared by Beca on the specific instructions of our Client. It is solely for our Client’s use for the purpose for which it is intended in accordance with the agreed scope of work. Any use or reliance by any person contrary to the above, to which Beca has not given its prior written consent, is at that person's own risk. RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT Wellington Traffic System Performance Monitoring March 2012 Table of Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Improvements to the Report ........................................................................................ 1 1.3 Report Content ............................................................................................................. 2 2 A Snapshot of New Zealand Cities ...................................................................... 2 2.1 CGI Comparisons for Australasia ................................................................................ 2 2.2 Comparison of New Zealand Cities by Road Hierarchy .............................................. 3 3 Survey Results at the Network Level .................................................................. 7 3.1 Average Actual Travel Speed ...................................................................................... 9 3.2 Congestion Indicator .................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Variability .................................................................................................................... 11 4 Average Travel Speed Trends ............................................................................ 11 4.1 Motorway Average Travel Speeds ............................................................................. 11 4.2 State Highway (Non-Motorway) Average Travel Speeds .......................................... 13 4.3 Regional Arterial (Local Roads) Average Travel Speeds .......................................... 14 5 Specific Routes and Projects ............................................................................ 15 5.1 Specific State Highways ............................................................................................ 15 5.2 RoNS Monitoring ........................................................................................................ 17 5.3 Additional Reported Route ......................................................................................... 20 6 Results by Road Hierarchy and Territorial Boundary ...................................... 21 7 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 24 7.1 Wellington Monitoring Network .................................................................................. 24 7.2 Indicators of Travel Performance ............................................................................... 26 8 Reported Incidents ............................................................................................. 26 8.1 Weather Conditions.................................................................................................... 26 8.2 RoadRELEASED Works ............................................................................................................... UNDER THE 27 8.3 Crash related Incidents .............................................................................................. 27 8.4 Re-run Policy .............................................................................................................. 27 AppendiceOFFICIALs INFORMATION ACT Appendix A – Weekday Result Tables (Original Routes) Appendix B – Weekday Result Tables (Additional Routes) Appendix C - Average Speed and Congestion Indicator Maps (Original Routes) Beca // 8 May 2012 // Page 1 3813118 // NZ1-5677657-31 1.11 Wellington Traffic System Performance Monitoring March 2012 1 Introduction 1.1 Background In 2002, Transit New Zealand (now the NZTA) set up a methodology for using floating vehicle travel time surveys to monitor congestion. The methodology was developed by Austroads and adopted by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Austroads. Over time the travel time surveys were rolled out across New Zealand to include Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, Christchurch and Hamilton. In all five cities, travel time surveys occur every March and November. The data collection methodology, in particular the routes and start times, remain the same for each survey, which means that year by year trends can be identified over time. The Wellington region’s unique topography and geographic constraints make it an area susceptible to congestion along key routes into the city. As a result, there is considerable investment to target congestion in the Wellington region. The survey programme provides a primary means of understanding existing congestion and the effect of investment intended to reducing congestion. The Austroads metrics used in this report are intended to assess the performance of the network from a road user perspective. The results can be combined with data from other sources (eg volume data) to provide results from a road operator’s perspective. 1.2 Improvements to the Report For the March 2012 report, two additional driven routes have been added, which provide more data along key routes. The first of these routes is included to provide additional data to support RoNS monitoring. This route extends the coverage of SH1 (between the airport and Waikanae) further along SH1 from Waikanae north as far as Levin. Data captured along this segment has been coupled with data from the airport to Waikanae to provide some comprehensive route data along the extent of the RoNS corridor. The second new route extends from Porirua to Seaview in Lower Hutt, following SH1 to Ngauranga, SH2 from Ngauranga to Petone, and The Esplanade and Waione Street from Petone to Seaview. This route provides some additional travel data along the SH1 and SH2 corridors to beRELEASED used for the regional transpor taUNDERtion model update, and THE in particul ar it enables a comparison of travel times between this route and the existing Route 3 (Porirua to Seaview via SH58). Both routes are reported as additional routes in the appendices. For the purposes of maintaining hOFFICIAListoric consistency, neithe r oINFORMATIONf these two routes are included in netwo rkACT level results analysed in this report. Saturday survey results have now been added to the accompanying programme included in the electronic appendices. Survey vehicles drive the same routes as per weekday surveys. There are two Saturday surveys; one starting at 10:30am and the other at 12 noon. Beca // 8 May 2012 // Page 1 //L3:23005-NZ1-5677657-Wellington Traffic System Performance Monitoring March 2012.docm Wellington Traffic System Performance Monitoring March 2012 1.3 Report Content This report details the findings of the March 2012 travel time surveys and presents the average speeds (Average Actual Travel Speeds) and congestion indicator (CGI). Average speeds are derived using floating vehicle surveys. The CGI is derived using Austroads formula, essentially by comparing the difference between observed travel speeds and the predominant speed limit for each route segment, and is reported as minutes delay per km. The morning (AM), interpeak and evening (PM) peak periods are surveyed for all cities. Aggregate network summary statistics are created using an Austroads methodology. This involves reporting both directions of travel, using a volume and distance weighted methodology. Nominal speeds are calculated using the speed limits for surveyed route segments. It should be noted that this is provided as a reference for comparison, rather than intended to represent an achievable goal. Road geometry, intersections, side friction and access to adjacent land uses cause delays in addition to congestion caused by peak loading. How significant these influences are will depend on the nature of the road surveyed and its function within the road hierarchy. Note that the results provided for network results are based on averages across the network and will include areas of both increasing and decreasing congestion. Averages may differ from the experiences of individual road users. Due to the amount of data available, these reports provide a summary only, and further analysis is possible for individual routes on an as required basis. A brief summary of the methodology and routes surveyed can be found in Section 7 - Methodology. A more detailed explanation of the individual routes can be found in the accompanying Wellington Summary Report March 2012. In the Summary Report, the speed over distance graphs are provided, as well as the weekend result tables. 2 A Snapshot of New Zealand Cities 2.1 CGI Comparisons for Australasia Figure 2.1 below shows a comparison of congestion indicators for New Zealand’s five cities, along with the most recent data available from Austroads for Australian population centres1.