One Network, Reduced Costs

Responsibility for maintaining all the roads, footpaths and bridges of Marlborough is in the hands of Marlborough Roads.

Marlborough Roads is the local office of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).

Not only does Marlborough Roads look after the NZTA’s state highways and bridges on those highways, it also contracts its services to the Marlborough District Council to maintain the urban and rural roads and footpaths that are the direct responsibility of the Council.

Marlborough Roads manages and maintains Council’s 1500 km of road, 353 bridges and 231 kms of footpaths as well as the NZTA’s network of 270 km of state highway and 70 bridges within Marlborough.

Council set up its contract with Marlborough Roads in 2000 – and we’re still the only region in New Zealand that has been able to streamline roading management in this way. Our arrangement delivers a one-stop shop for the district’s roading needs and offers the greater technical resources of a larger organisation.

Working as one district-wide network achieves savings through economies of scale that would otherwise not be possible in a region as small as Marlborough.

Marlborough Roads receives a fee from Council for its services and meets staff and direct overhead costs but it is not required to achieve a profit margin.

Marlborough Roads manager Frank Porter says contract prices charged on the combined roading networks back in 2000 were $600,000 per year less than the estimates - and those levels of savings have been maintained since then.

The economic benefit to Marlborough taxpayers and the standard of work that has been delivered encouraged Council to renew its contract with Marlborough Roads in 2010, for another five years.
Marlborough Roads also manages parking enforcement and parking meter maintenance and cash collection on behalf of Council.

• Marlborough Roads office is located on the second floor of The Forum, in Market Place. Ph: 03 520 8330 (24 hours service).
• Report footpath damage or potholes with MDC Fix-It Form on Council's website under List of Forms/FixIt-Request Form.