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Speaker 1: Truck.

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Speaker 2: He's won our Roads to harden up calling for concrete

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Speaker 2: on busy sections of State Highway over Asheville, Ashvilt and You.

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Speaker 2: Report launched by Transport Minister Simeon Brown, shows concrete roads

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Speaker 2: are well suited for high intensity traffic and are more

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Speaker 2: cost effective in the long run, though they do cost

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Speaker 2: more upfront. Maintenance costs can be up to sixty two

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Speaker 2: percent less. James Smith is with the National Road Carriers Union.

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Speaker 2: He's with US Live this morning. James, good morning to you.

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Speaker 1: Good morning Ryan.

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Speaker 2: Good to have you on the show. Obviously, you guys

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Speaker 2: would like a bit more concrete.

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Speaker 1: We want better roads. Ryan, that's always a good thing.

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Speaker 2: Where exactly would concrete help.

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Speaker 1: I think concrete helps where you've got high volumes of traffic,

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Speaker 1: especially traffic that's got some weight to it. And because

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Speaker 1: concrete gives us a far more resilient road, it gives

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Speaker 1: us a much lower cost over the life total life

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Speaker 1: of the road. And that's that's I think the significant

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Speaker 1: change in direction we're seeing from this government. They're starting

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Speaker 1: to look at what is the long term cost implications

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Speaker 1: of a decision, rather than the previously held view of

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Speaker 1: the what can we do for the lowest cost.

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Speaker 2: Now paper over and then literally fill in the cracks

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Speaker 2: every five minutes. Can you go faster?

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Speaker 1: Correct?

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Speaker 2: Can can big heavy vehicles go faster on concrete too?

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Speaker 1: No? Not no, We're not not so worried about that.

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Speaker 1: But what it does do is it potentially it removes

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Speaker 1: that continual need to fix potholes, so you know you've

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Speaker 1: got and again it's not going to work everywhere because

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Speaker 1: you know New Zealand's got challenging topography. But where it

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Speaker 1: will work, I think it should be seriously looked at.

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Speaker 2: And it sounds like Simon Brown's going to be doing that.

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Speaker 2: Is at a conference today, Hey what about the desert

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Speaker 2: road closing for two months? I suppose it's got to

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Speaker 2: be done, absolutely, and.

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Speaker 1: It's been well signaled, Like we've known about this since

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Speaker 1: gosh would have been August, and it's part of that

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Speaker 1: renewals program that started off at t RAL making it

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Speaker 1: way all the way through to WAYUU, so well signaled.

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Speaker 1: There's plenty you know, there's alternatives to do, and it's

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Speaker 1: going to end up with a much better finish in

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Speaker 1: the end.

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Speaker 2: Brilliant James, Thanks very much for being on the program.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate your time James Smith with the National Road Carriers Union.

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Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live

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Speaker 1: to news talks. It'd be from five am weekdays, or

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