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SH1 Belfast to Pegasus motorway and Woodend Bypass

Project update

8 May 2025

You're going to see us out and about around SH1, North Canterbury

We’re now underway with ground investigations for the design of the SH1 Belfast to Pegasus motorway and Woodend Bypass (B2P).

From early May, we’re out testing the soil and ground strength as part of our geotechnical investigations to guide the planning and design of the B2P.

You’ll see our drilling rigs and geo tech teams out and about completing this work. Some of these investigations, as well as ecological and ground and surface water surveys we’re doing are on private property, and we’ve been working with landowners to complete this work.

We’ll also be testing around the Kaiapoi and Cam River bridges to get a clear picture of what’s under the ground to guide designs for strengthening and widening of the Kaiapoi Bridge and replacement of the Cam River Bridge.

We take several factors into account when we choose the sites for testing, including being in the right location to collect vital information for design, limiting disruption to the public, the location of buried services and accessibility.

What’s happening

Geotechnical investigations are important for looking at ground conditions, including soil and rock types, groundwater depths and the strength of soil and rock.

We’ll be drilling around 70 boreholes up to 35m deep and digging pits at individual sites along the designation for the new motorway. Boreholes are drilled using machine drilling rigs, typically the size of a small truck.

The boreholes will be filled in once the drilling is complete. Each hole can take up to five days to drill. The drill rigs measure how difficult it is to drill into the ground and what sort of soil or rock is found at different levels. This information helps us to work out the best foundations for large structures like bridges or motorways.

Most investigations will be carried out on weekdays between 7am and 6pm and will take around two months to mid-June to complete. Temporary traffic management will be in place in some testing locations. Please follow any on-site signage.

Ecological surveys are complete for the current phase. These looked at the value and quality of the environment and help us identify and manage environmental effects. In our last update we were surveying for lizards and their habitat. We’re now working on getting the necessary wildlife permits and developing a Lizard Management Plan that outlines the management strategy for Department of Conservation (DOC) approval.

Ground and surface water surveys help us to understand how water flows across the land so we can work out how water needs to be managed once the B2P is in place. This ongoing work involves discussions with landowners to gain permission to access their land for surveys and to plan any necessary changes. Our goal is to ensure water is managed effectively and sustainably.

We’re continuing to work closely with Waimakariri District Council to make sure the work we’re planning fits in with their wider network plans.

Tolling

The Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 includes the expectation for NZTA to consider tolling to support the construction and maintenance of all new roads, including Roads of National Significance.

As part of the investment case, a tolling assessment was completed for the project. The investment case proposes tolling to support the construction and maintenance of the road.

The next step is for NZTA to seek Ministerial approval to move to public consultation. If approved, consultation could take place later this year.

We’ll keep the community updated as the project progresses through the process.

Next steps

Data from the geotechnical investigations will help to confirm the scope of an early work package. This package will include low risk construction tasks that will allow us to prepare and lodge consents before starting the main construction work. By splitting the design into two packages, we can start construction of the easier tasks while continuing to design and consent the remainder of the project.

We’ll share more about what the early work package includes as we make progress.



	Consultation confirmed speed limit increase on SH1 south of Woodend During speed reversals public consultation from January to March, we received more than 7,000 pieces of feedback on the Canterbury sections of state highway. Feedback across all these sections showed majority support for increasing speed limits. Therefore, the government's new Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 requires the speed limit on SH1 South of Woodend (South of Rangiora Woodend Road to south of the Cam River Bridge) to reverse from 80km/h to 100km/h by 1 July 2025. The date this speed change applies will be available on our website soon once it has been confirmed. Thank you to everyone who gave feedback. Click the link for more information and to see when reversed speed limits apply: Speed reversals and consultation transitional changes in 2024-25


	More information

Visit our website nzta.govt.nz/b2p for more information on the SH1 Belfast to Pegasus motorway and Woodend Bypass.