Working on the Road

About obtaining a CAR in order to perform work in a road corridor

Selwyn District Council has a requirement under the Local Government Act and the NZ Utilities Advisory Group (NZUAG) Code of Practice to manage and coordinate contractors seeking to carry out work in the road corridor.

The road corridor extends from the property line on one side of the road to the property line on the other. It is intended to be accessible by the public for transportation as well as for utilities to place their services. The road corridor includes not just the carriageway for vehicles but berms, footpaths, cycle ways and any other structures in these areas such as power poles and street lights.

Corridor Access Request (CAR)

A Corridor Access Request (CAR) is an application to the Council for access to the road corridor in order to carry out activities that will change the normal operating conditions such as road works and events.

If a CAR is approved, a Work Access Permit (WAP) is issued. The WAP gives permission to carry out the specified activity in the CAR in the road corridor. A set of conditions is issued with the WAP which outlines a set of rules to be followed when working in the road corridor. These approved documents, together with the approved TMP, must be on site at all times for the duration of the work carried out in the road corridor.

A WAP is required for all work carried out in the road corridor. This could include, but is not limited to, the following activities:

Any activity that will alter or cause to be altered the surface of any part of the road reserve, including but not limited to excavating, drilling, resurfacing
The placement of any pipe, duct, pole, cabinet or other structure below, on or above the road reserve
An event in the road corridor or access to an event
A new driveway

Applying for Access to the Road Corridor

On-line Application

A Corridor Access Request (CAR) application must be made for any activity that occurs in the road corridor. A CAR can be generated through Beforeudig or Submitica. Both are free to access for those requiring access to the road corridor.

Beforeudig will also include service plans for the location you have requested access too, should you need to carry out an excavation. Beforeudig can be contacted on 0800 248 344, who are also able to assist in completing a CAR over the phone.

As per the NZUAG Code of Practice, the following information, but not necessarily limited to, is required to be included in a CAR:

A Temporary Traffic Management Plan (TMP) which must include the full form from the NZTA website and any Temporary Traffic Management Diagram(s) (TMD(s)) necessary for deployment of any Temporary Traffic Management (TTM). The design of the TMP must comply with the Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management (CoPTTM)
A plan indicating the proposed scope of works including location in the road corridor and proposed dimensions and design of any excavations
Evidence of approvals from any other utilities operators that need to be obtained e.g. close approach approval for power lines
Any other relevant additional information to supplement your application or requested by the corridor manager

All documents need to be in portrait PDF format only. All documents cannot be exceed 15 MB.

Traffic counts and Route Positions (RPs) can be obtained through Mobile Roads.

The length of time to process the application will depend on the request. The minimum lead/processing times for CAR and TMP applications are as follows:

APPLICATION TYPE	MINIMUM PROCESSING TIME
Non-excavation/small excavation/large excavation CAR/TMP	5 working days
Project CAR/TMP	On application - minimum 15 working days
Road Closure	10 working days
Event Road Closure TMP	42 days
Road Space Booking (carried out under a global CAR only)	2 working days
Global CAR/generic TMP	10 working days

The TMP must be approved before any TM can be placed in the road corridor.

The CAR must be applied for and the WAP must be granted before the work can commence unless it is an emergency. Failure to do so may result in the contractor being removed from the road corridor or being unable to start work in a timely manner. As of 1 January 2023, there will be a fee to recover the cost of an audit if the contractor is removed from the road corridor as a result of failing to obtain an approved TMP/CAR before start of works.

Types of corridor access request:

Non-Excavation CAR & TMP	Works that do not break ground or are small hand dug excavations to locate services. Works that may be considered non-excavation may include, but not limited to, tree trimming, service location, pole replacements, commercial event management, mowing, spraying, drain cleaning, domestic service connections, delivery of goods or any other activity in the road corridor that does not require an excavation.
Small Excavation CAR & TMP	Works that do break ground and requires machinery to be used to complete the excavation. Works are to be less than 3 linear metres in any one direction and works must be completed within 10 working days. A site visit is included in the CAR fee to sign off works. Works that may be considered a small excavation may include, but not limited to, road crossings, sewer laterals, small network extensions, driveway construction or other works in the road corridor that breaks ground. Directional drilling and mole ploughing is considered a small excavation for distances less than 1km and for road crossings where the carriage way is not impacted.
Large Excavation CAR & TMP	Works that do break ground and requires machinery to be used to complete the excavation. Works are greater than 3 linear metres in any one direction or will take less than 10 working days to complete. Fee includes processing, a site walk over at the beginning and conclusion of the project. Additional site visits may be required at an additional fee. Works that may be considered a large excavation may include, but not limited to, network extensions over 3 linear metres, directional drilling and mole ploughing that exceeds 1km in length, manhole installation and sewer/water/storm water main installation.
Project CAR	Works exceeding 10 working days in length and all sub-divisions. To be assessed on application due to varying length of projects and varying inspection requirements.
Road closure	Closure of the road corridor to the public for the duration of works, regardless of traffic volume or length of works. Fee includes processing of TMP and CAR, notification to the public via council channels (in addition to the agreed letter drops and other communication requirements which are the contractor’s responsibility to complete) and site inspection at the beginning and end of the project for excavation works. Additional site visits may be required at an additional fee.
Community Sporting and Cultural events	Events that are held in the interests of the community and are not commercial events. Such events may include, but are not limited to, Santa parades, ANZAC day parades, school cross country events, school cycling events, street parties arranged by residents, community markets, fetes, graduation parades or other community-based activities. No fees will be charged for these events.
Global CAR & TMP Repetitive Mobile Activities	A generic inspection CAR and TMP for minor mobile works. Such works which could be considered repetitive mobile activities may be, but are not limited to, survey works, inspection activities, road counter installation, power line inspections, service location inspections and eScooter pick up and drop off.
Global non-excavation CAR & TMP	A 12-month CAR which includes a generic TMP for carrying out non-excavation activities within the Selwyn road network. Works carried out under this CAR and TMP require road space bookings or other prearranged reporting system agreed with the TMC before works are carried out and works should be minor, repetitive, not left unattended and last no more than 1 shift. Fee includes processing of both the TMP and the road space bookings. Works a global non-excavation CAR may apply to, but is not limited too, are tree trimmers, residential vehicle crossing construction, mowing, spraying, drain cleaning, delivery of goods to sites, accident and emergency response or domestic services connections such as fibre.
Global excavation CAR & TMP	A 12-month CAR which includes a generic TMP for carrying out minor excavation activities within the Selwyn road network. Limited to utility providers and contractors holding maintenance contracts with Selwyn District Council.
Generic TMP (no work access permit)	A 12-month TMP which is intended to be issued to those who seek to carry out excavation activities frequently within the Selwyn road network or traffic management contractors. Intended to cover works where a generic can apply and a road space booking can be used in place of a TMP in a site specific CAR. The fee covers the processing of the TMP. Additional fees for the site-specific CAR continue to apply.
Non-Conforming/Dangerous Audit	Where a contractor is removed from site as they are unable to immediately correct a dangerous site and/or they do not have an approved TMP and WAP available onsite and/or there is no appropriately qualified staff onsite, a fee for the audit will be issued.
Additional site inspections	Additional site inspections may be required, but not limited to, where site inspections are required outside of those already covered in the CAR fees or where a reinspection of a site shows failure to implement agreed improvements in an agreed time frame or where repeated site visits are required due to customer complaints or repeated remediation of works. Covers all site inspections in addition to the CAR process.

Service Plans

Contractors should be obtaining service plans and services should be located through a cable locate service before any excavation is undertaken. Many services that are vital to the community now run underground including power cables, fibre internet cables, water mains and sewer mains, among others.

Should a service strike occur, then it is the responsibility of the contractor to repair the service. Some services are of critical importance and can be costly to repair as well as requiring specialist contractors to complete the work.

Service plans for Selwyn District Council services can be obtained through Beforeudig or accessed on Canterbury Maps

Contractor's Requirements

Contractors are required to supply or do the following during the CAR process:

Obtain service plans and check service locations in the road corridor before beginning work where an excavation will occur
Notify Selwyn District Council of the commencement of works
A Works Completion Notice when work is completed (which can be found at the bottom of this page)
Before and after pictures of the site where work is carried out
Any and all testing results including compaction tests and pressure tests for pipe work if applicable

Once all of the above documents are supplied to the corridor manager, the works can then enter into the two year maintenance period.

All excavation and trenching work carried out within the road corridor must be carried out in accordance with the National Code of Practice for Utilities' Access to the Transport Corridors that was compiled and published by the NZUAG.

All Temporary Traffic Management Plans (TMPs) must minimally comply with the Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management (CoPTTM). TMPs must be prepared by a suitably qualified person.

Working On The Roads During Peak Hours

Road works will not be permitted on the following roads at morning peak (7am to 9am) or afternoon peak (4pm to 6pm) Monday to Friday except by written permission by the Road Network Coordinator. Works that take longer than 1 day to complete will be allowed to leave TTM in place as required but commuter needs will take priority during these times on these roads.

Where there is a known school route or works are within 100 m of a school, high school or preschool, works must cease between 8:30am to 9:15 am and 2:45pm to 3:30pm and priority given to the safe passage of school children past the site. Footpaths must remain open at all times within 100 m of a school, high school or preschool.

The roads affected by the peak restrictions are:

Road Name	Suburb	Section of Road	RP Start to Finish
Birches Road	Prebbleton/Lincoln	Springs Road to James Street	0.000 to 6.261
Blakes Road	Prebbleton	Shands Road to Springs Road	0.000 to 1.666
Brookside Road	Rolleston	Main South Road to Dunns Cross Road	0.000 to 2.700
Edward Street	Lincoln	James Street to Liffey Springs Drive	0.000 to 1.200
Ellesmere Junction Road	Lincoln	Springs Road to Rattletrack Road	0.000 to 5.000
Gerald Street	Lincoln	James Street to Springs Road	0.000 to 1.255
High Street	Leeston	Cunningham Street to Feredays Road	0.000 to 1.800
Hoskyns Road	Rolleston/West Melton	Main South Road to Newtons Road	0.000 to 4.620
James Street	Lincoln	Gerald Street to Birches Road	0.000 to 0.615
Jones Road	Rolleston	Dawsons Road to Two Chain Road	1.250 to 8.865
Levi Road	Rolleston	Lincoln Rolleston Road to Weedons Road	0.000 to 1.700
Lincoln Rolleston Road	Rolleston	Selwyn Road to Masefield Drive	0.000 to 3.700
Lowes Road	Rolleston	Lincoln Rolleston Road to Dunns Cross Road	0.000 to 3.100
Masefield Drive	Rolleston	Rolleston Drive to Levi/Lowes Road	0.000 to 0.640
Rolleston Drive	Rolleston	Main South Road to Brookside Road	0.000 to 2.250
Selwyn Road	Rolleston/Prebbleton	Shands Road to Ellesmere Junction Road	0.000 to 10.200
Shands Road	Prebbleton	Marshs Road to Selwyn Road	0.000 to 4.100
Springs Road	Prebbleton/Lincoln	Marshs Road to Lincoln University	0.000 to 9.800
Springston Rolleston Road	Rolleston	Tennyson Street to Selwyn Road	2.800 to 6.735
Tennyson Street	Rolleston	Main South Road to Springston Rolleston Road	0.000 to 1.251
Trents Road	Prebbleton	Shands Road to Birches Road	2.900 to 4.765
Weedons Road	Rolleston	Levi Road to Weedons Ross Road	7.000 to 7.900

Works maybe carried out on other roads at peak hour subject to other approvals as per the CAR application process.

Fees

As of 1 July 2023, fees will apply to all new corridor access requests. The fee schedule can be found below:

Fee Type	2023/2024 Fee
Non-Excavation CAR & TMP	$80
Small Excavation CAR & TMP	$320
Large Excavation CAR & TMP	$640
Project CAR	POA
Community Sporting and Cultural events CAR & TMP	No Charge
Global CAR & TMP Repetitive Mobile Activities	$160
Global non-excavation CAR & TMP	$1500
Global excavation CAR & TMP	$1500
Generic TMP (no work access permit)	$480
Non-Conforming/Dangerous Audit	$800
Additional site inspections (charge per inspection)	$640
CAR & TMP Extension	$80
Road Closure Application (in addition to the CAR and TMP fee)	$1500

Corridor Manager Contact

If you have any questions or concerns relating to the road corridor and the CAR process, please email in the first instance the corridor manager at corridor.manager@selwyn.govt.nz