The Aspiring Highways network spans 537km of state highway through Central Otago. With soaring erosion-prone mountains to the west and rapidly changing weather systems, the farthest reaches of the district are inundated by up to seven metres of rain a year.

It’s fair to say the Aspiring Highways team works in one of the most demanding of physical worlds. In keeping people and roads safe, their response is becoming increasingly virtual, leading to new levels of visibility and proactivity.

For the last few years, the team has applied the internet of things (IoT) to understand, minute by minute, what’s happening across Central Otago’s highway network that they manage on behalf of NZTA.

In doing so, they better understand the relationship between weather systems in remote areas – where there is no publicly available weather data – and how it can disrupt road users and local communities. State Highway 6, for example, is the only artery to and from the West Coast.

This allows them to proactively attend to known risks in advance of heavy rainfall and to mitigate damage, where possible. This includes installing fixed and mobile weather stations for monitoring rainfall and wind data, water level sensors and live footage capture.

Aspiring Highways Network Contracts Manager, Ben Rohde, puts it like this:

“Huge amounts of water flow across our network and things can change in the blink of an eye. We need to know exactly what’s happening to keep people safe – the more information we can grab from the network the safer they can be.”

Aspiring Highways Operations Manager, Gerard Williams, talks about the team’s commitment in personal terms.

“We live in a pristine environment and play in that same environment. Our people are deeply connected to it and it forms a big part of our identity, so it’s not hard for us to get buy-in from the whole team.”

A remote sensor on Flaxmill Creek on SH6.

IoT and Aspiring team members erect a weather station at Cameron Camp, on SH6.