A world-leading avalanche control programme at Milford has won the "highway version of an Olympic gold medal" in the 2008 International Road Federation (IRF) Achievement Awards.
The New Zealand Transport Agency's programme on State Highway 94-Milford Rd has won the maintenance management category of the awards, selected by an international panel of independent judges with expertise in the road development industry.
Now in its 25th year, the avalanche programme keeps the Milford Rd - a vital link between Te Anau and Milford Sound - open and safe through most of the year.
The programme was established in 1983 to predict and manage risk from snow, ice and avalanches more effectively, allowing year-round operation for a road which, until the late 1970s, was closed all winter due to the avalanche danger.
Today the programme is one of the key factors in the growth of the Fiordland economy and, for each day the road is kept open, it is estimated to potentially add between $200,000 and $600,000 to the economy, depending on the time of year.
Transport Agency Network Operations general manager Roly Frost said he was delighted the programme had been internationally recognised.
"It's the highway version of an Olympic gold medal.
"It belongs to the people who work on the programme in challenging conditions and the agency staff for whom this road, the avalanche programme and its success have become a passion over the years."
The programme is run for the NZ Transport Agency by Downer EDi Works, whose key people with the programme, Wayne and Ann Carran, received Queen's Service Medals for their services to conservation in the Queen's Birthday Honours this year.
Three other New Zealand highway projects have previously been honoured by the IRF: The State Highway 12 Waipoua Forest reconstruction project, State Highway 73 Otira Viaduct and Candy's Bend improvements, and the State Highway 1 Grafton Gully project, which all won the IRF Global Achievement Award for environmental mitigation.
