Kris Croft: A new Test at Forsyth Barr Stadium

Fulton Hogan is using New Zealand’s largest indoor stadium to test its road marking vehicles. This week five road markers from three regions – Southland, Central Otago and Dunedin – lined up at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium for the “T8” registration that’s required annually by Waka Kotahi the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Together these vehicles do between 5,000 and 6,000 kilometres of road marking each year, using approximately 150,000 litres of paint. Ensuring accurate application is, therefore, important.

This is the second year Forsyth Barr Stadium has been used for the testing, providing a controlled environment with no interference from the weather. The testing involves a full system check of each unit, followed by spraying over test plates, which are then weighed and checked with an electronic measuring device. This year all of the ‘umbilical’ trolleys attached to these trucks were also tested.

“This was a great exercise for all involved,” Surfacing and Transport Divisional Manager Warren Pickering says.

“It gives the operators an accurate check on what they do every day and is a valuable chance for them to compare notes. It was a big team effort from all operators involved and by our internal testing team of Tony McLellan and Ryan Gorman.”