Environmental values of the state highway corridor: a West Coast case study survey of stakeholders

Abstract

This report presents the results of a field investigation into the environmental values and landscape preferences of key stakeholders in relation to the management of the roadside corridor of the State Highway system. The New Zealand State Highway network is a critical component of the country’s public infrastructure, connecting communities, towns and cities to farms, forests, industry and ports, and region to region. The network crosses the full range of New Zealand’s natural and modified environments. In some areas, the highway is the major built asset within a largely unmodified landscape. In other, more intensively developed areas, the highway network is a working part of a cultural landscape mosaic of different land uses, features and other infrastructure. The specific objective of the work reported here is to investigate the perceptions and values of road user groups, designers and managers that relate to the State Highway Corridor Reserve. The research design was based on a regional case study, focused upon the West Coast of the South Island. The report presents the results of questions about preference, identity and management of the non engineering assets in the State Highway reserve, within the context of the wider landscape corridor of the highway.