Webcams, a new weather station and more people on the ground on Dunedin's Northern Motorway should help deal with snow-day problems that last year saw traffic backed up for 90 minutes on a closed road.
The New Zealand Transport Agency yesterday released measures it hopes will keep drivers fully informed on conditions on the motorway.
Yesterday, workers began installing a weather station and webcam at the motorway's highest point at Leith Saddle.
That will allow drivers to see on websites what the road is like before heading out, discover the temperature of the road, and information on antifreeze used on its surface.
An electronic message board will inform drivers of conditions as they pass through Palmerston, and contractor Downer will be required to have a grader on the motorway for snow days to move stuck cars, and provide more communication to drivers.
The initiative is expected to cost about $75,000.
Snow in April last year left vehicles backed up for more than an hour on the motorway, leading to calls from drivers for better communication and better management.
NZTA journey manager Graeme Hall said the motorway was closed eight times last year, causing complaints from road users, particularly when there was no heavy snow but vehicles had blocked the road.
Mr Hall said a snow day on May 25 last year that closed the motorway in the morning meant 2662 vehicles used the road, compared with about 4800 on a typical weekday.
The agency had decided to look at ways to improve the situation, and held meetings in July last year with regular users of the road.
Mr Hall said the result was a series of initiatives, with the first, a webcam and weather station, being installed on the Leith Saddle.
That meant weather forecasts would be done for the highest spot on the motorway and a public warning issued when snow or ice were forecast. The information would also be shown on the MetService website.
Two webcams, one for day and one for night, would show the road in both directions, with photos updated every four minutes and shown on both the MetService and NZTA websites.
The NZTA was talking to the Dunedin City Council about the information being included on its site.
"This means that people will have an update of what is actually happening up there, visually, every four minutes,'' Mr Hall said.
The system would be operating from June 1.
A new contract for the coastal network with Downer would include greater requirements on the contractor.
Downer would have a grader with chains stationed on the motorway to tow obstructing vehicles on snow days, and more staff at each end of the motorway to make sure if the NZTA banned towing vehicles that could be policed.
Mr Hall said a variable messaging sign being installed in Palmerston next month, with an area trucks could pull off the road, would communicate what was happening on the motorway further south.
