Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
Napier’s new Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre (CVSC) will focus on the safety of heavy vehicle operators and ultimately improve travel efficiencies, once it’s built.
Motorists travelling along Hawke’s Bay Expressway towards Prebensen Drive will now start to see work happening at the site of the new Napier CVSC building. The main construction is set to begin in a fortnight.
The Napier CVSC is situated at the corner of Prebensen Drive and Hawke’s Bay Expressway. It will be built by contractor Fulton Hogan.
The site was formally blessed by iwi yesterday morning, marking the start of site establishment. This was followed by a cultural induction for contractors to deepen understanding of mana whenua aspirations for the area.
CVSCs monitor heavy vehicles across the country alongside in-road technology that operates 24/7 which provides data on operator and vehicle behaviour such as vehicle weight, permit compliance, and indicators of driver fatigue. CVSCs are operated by NZ Police and they play a pivotal role in promoting road safety and ensuring regulatory compliance across the transport network.
The expressway is a high-volume freight route, carrying trucks and other heavy vehicles between Napier and Hastings.
As part of the project, sets of in-road scales (weigh-in-motion plates), in combination with an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera, will be installed at various locations on the approach to the CVSC – including on the expressway at Westshore; SH50 on the Ahuriri truck bypass; SH51 Georges Drive at Marewa and the expressway at Greenmeadows.
If a heavy vehicle is flagged during screening, digital signage near the scales will instruct the driver to pull into the centre by showing the vehicle’s licence plate number.
Once at the CVSC, the vehicle will drive over a weigh bridge and undergo compliance checks, such as checking road user charges or logbooks, or completing a vehicle safety inspection.
The Napier CVSC is one of 12, including a recently opened centre at Ōhakea in Manawatū.
Using data from the in-road technology and centre, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) will be able to focus education and compliance work toward operators who aren’t compliant on our roads, making sure they’re paying their fair share of road maintenance costs, while keeping compliant operators moving and our roads safer for all users.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Head of Commercial Transport Regulation, Tara McMillan says this technology will help streamline travel for operators, because compliant drivers who are not flagged during screening, will be able to keep driving and delivering freight across the country.
“The data we collect will give us really good insight into the behaviour of heavy vehicles on the network. Using this data, we’ll be able to target our education and compliance work toward where safety issues are in the industry, protect our roads from damage, and bring down road maintenance costs.”
NZTA Regional Manager of Infrastructure Delivery Rob Partridge says having this facility will help NZTA and Police ensure drivers and vehicles passing through the region are safe and compliant.
“This is an exciting development for Napier and the freight industry because it means more efficient travel for those who are compliant while improving safety for all road users.”
Traffic impact
In the next fortnight, people travelling past will see a lot of activity on site, including the establishment of offices. However, because the work on the centre is off to the side of the expressway, disruption will be minimal. A shoulder closure and traffic management will be in place.
During the construction process, from time to time, traffic impacts may change, for the likes of the in-road scale installation. NZTA will let people know as early as possible.
