The Government is set to close the road cone hotline "ahead of schedule" on Friday, after six months of operation.
The hotline, which was set up in June to report excessive use of road cones, was initially meant to run for 12 months.
Today, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said the pilot "has done exactly what we needed it to".
Van Velden said this will coincide with the requirement of NZTA for councils to have a plan in place to apply the new risk-based temporary traffic management guidelines to their local contracts before approving government funding for the projects.
Earlier this month, 1News reported the hotline, which received 374 reports in its first week, was down to just 15 reports in early November. In the same month, the average number of daily reports was three.
At the time, van Velden 1News the hotline was meeting its objectives and that there had been no specific expectations on the rate of tips.
Today, she said the Government is able to "now understand what's really causing the excessive use of road cones, and changing to a risk-based approach is key to resolving these issues".
When the public see excessive road cones, van Velden said it is most likely because the local council signed it off. She said site visits revealed 86% of sites were compliant with the number of cones and other temporary traffic management devices laid out in the council-approved traffic management plans.
Van Velden added the problem seems to be councils across the country were not required to apply the most recent guidance to temporary traffic management from NZTA.
"So while the use of road cones may be consistent with council-approved plans, they may still be excessive. Moving forward, NZTA has said all councils must be fully compliant with the new guidance by 1 July 2027."
"That's a crucial insight. It tells us where efforts should be focused.
"Beyond the data, WorkSafe has built important working relationships with those responsible for temporary traffic management. That collaborative approach will continue as they work with NZTA to help councils better understand risk-based compliance."
'Absurd wastes of public money'
Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said the hotline was not only virtually unused, "but the Government also couldn’t say how many cones it resulted removing".
He called the hotline officially one of the Government's "most absurd wastes of public money".
"One objective the Government had was the removal of non-compliant cones, but 93% of call outs had cones used perfectly. Who would have thought."
He said by September 30, the Government had spent $148,545 on the hotline, or $136.15 for every one of the 1091 complaints logged at that point.
"Now that Chris Bishop and Brooke van Velden have completed their performative battle with the cones, it’s my hope not a single road cone is on top of a tree, on the head of a statue, or a single centimetre out of place over summer.
"Rest in peace road cone hotline, you will not be missed."
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