PROJECT BACKGROUND , OBJECTIVES AND CHALLENGES
The Sounds The Marlborough Sounds ( the Sounds ) is part of the Marlborough District and is located at the north-eastern point of the South Island , New Zealand , covering roughly 4,000 km2 of sounds , islands , and peninsulas . The area ’ s coastline accounts for 10 % of the length of New Zealand ’ s coasts ( shown by figure 1 ).
The Sounds , together with the two adjacent local authorities – Nelson City and Tasman District ( all three combined also known as Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka-a-Māui ), are socially and economically interlinked and dependent on one another , with viticulture , horticulture , forestry , seafood , farming , and tourism comprising the backbone of the regional economy ( Waka Kotahi , Marlborough District Council , Nelson City Council , and Tasman District Council , 2021 ). Products produced within the Sounds tend to either be consumed internally or be exported via one of the two port entrances to the District ( Picton and Havelock ), with 83 percent of freight travelling within the Region staying in the Region . As such , good transport within the region and to the ports is pivotal to the regional economy .
The Sounds community appears to be automobile-dependent , with private vehicle travel accounting for 76 % of mode share ( 52 % of drivers and 24 % of passengers ) ( Ministory of Transport , 2015 ). Most of the freight transported around the Region , generally bulk commodities in nature , traverse long distances and heavily rely on the road network .
The road networks consist of a hierarchy of roads . The road infrastructure carrying more than roughly 90 % of the total vehicle kilometres travelled ( VKT ) are collector roads , tallying up to less than one-third of the local network length . The remaining two-thirds are Access or Low Volume roads ( carrying 10 % of VKT ), forming an extensive network connecting the small outer Sounds settlements with the towns ( Marlborough District Council , 2003 ).
The storm events Four high intensity rainfall events over 2021 and 2022 caused significant damage to the local transport network . The July 2021 event caused approximately 900 faults across the Sounds . A further event in August 2022 caused approximately 500 km of roads to experience slips and dropouts , with many sections of the road network closed for six weeks and 2,750 faults identified .
Approximately 2,000 permanent residents and 150 business owners in the Sounds were affected . Potential subsequent storms or rainfall events raised concerns about further damage to the already fragile road network from more events in the future . Repairs and improvements to the Transport system needed urgent attention to restore access for people , services , recreational activities , and markets .
Project objectives and challenges It was recognised that just repairing existing damage without consideration of future need and possible future events ( and associated costs ) was potentially economically and socially unsustainable . To provide certainty to the wider community , the MSFAS project was aimed at identifying a sustainable long-term solution for safe and resilient transport access to the Sounds .
Establishing such a solution required extensive investigation and appreciation of the issues and needs . The unavailability of multi-dimensional network use data posed great challenges to achieve this . While evidence of road damage , outstanding road faults , and geotechnical hazards were readily available , the post-storm actual traffic data was not fully sufficient to understand network connectivity under emergency conditions , traffic demand for various emergency rescue purposes , nor projecting future demand . This made it difficult to apply the typical transport guidance topdown approach that relies on such data . Additionally , there was minimal community-oriented data reflecting the true impacts of hazardous events on individuals and the community , creating a lack of deeper insights to support tailored decision-making . At project establishment , Marlborough District Council and the Community expressed a need for the project to consider these factors .
To address these data limitations and meet Council and the Community ’ s expectations , Stantec implemented a bottom-up community-oriented survey .
METHODOLOGIES
Figure 1 . The project extent in the Sounds ( Queen Charlotte was included in Kenepuru in the survey )
Survey and targeted stakeholder engagement The survey named “ the Sounds Future Access Survey ” ( the survey ) was carried out in Feb 2023 to understand the financial
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 17 NO 1 2024 21