State Highway 1 Tīrau to Waiouru accelerated maintenance project

Latest information on SH1 work

4 October 2024

Waikato pastures look great, as does the rebuild of this section of SH1 (between Tīrau and Putāruru)

Two sections are re-opening to traffic today! 

The section of State Highway 1 from just south of Tīrau (SH1/SH5) to just north of Putāruru (SH1/28) as well as the section from Ātiamuri (SH1/30) to Wairakei (SH1/SH5) are both re-opening on schedule. 

The night closures from Piarere to north of Tīrau continue. This work is expected to be completed at 6am on Friday 18 October.

The full closure of SH1 from the SH1/SH32 intersection in Tokoroa to the Kinleith intersection (SH1/SH30) north of Ātiamuri starts at 5am Monday 7 October for approximately 6 weeks. 

A section of road rebuilt under closure

SH1 between Tīrau and Putāruru

State Highway 1 between Tīrau and Putāruru will open at 3pm today! Yay!

This is right on schedule after the 4-week closure. Roger Brady, NZTA's Regional Manager of Maintenance and Operations for Waikato and Bay of Plenty is full of praise for the team effort put in to achieve this.

“The team faced weather challenges, and we appreciate there was some inconvenience to those travelling on SH1, but we are delighted this plan worked. Residents’ cooperation has been a big part of getting the work done as planned and I would like to personally thank everyone."

There will be temporary traffic management and speed limits in place. The road needs to be driven on to bed-in the rebuild work, getting the stone chip to settle in before the final asphalt surface can be applied. This final surfacing will take a short time and may possibly be done at night.

Roger is asking all drivers to be gentle with the new road. "It is vital that the temporary speed limit is adhered to. The faster vehicles go, the greater the force on the delicate new road, and the higher the risk of the chip being lost. The wet weather makes this even more important, as the water can get pushed into the new road by speeding traffic."

Once the chip is adequately bedded in (the length of time will vary depending on the weather), the excess chip will be swept off, road markings completed and the temporary speed limit removed.

There is a video taken showing the work being done while the road was closed between Tīrau and Putāruru. Check it out to see what was going on behind road closed signs. 

SH1 Ātiamuri to Wairakei opens at 6pm tonight

SH1 between Ātiamuri and Wairakei will also re-open to traffic today (Friday) at 6pm.

As there is still considerable work required to complete the safety improvement project in this area, the team will continue with this work after the day time closures finish today.

Traffic management such as lane shifts and temporary speed limits will be in place while this is completed. 

There will also be stop/go traffic management in place over this weekend and potentially for up to 2 weeks, depending on weather. Crews will be monitoring queueing and releasing traffic if delays build.

We apologise for those who experienced delays last weekend.  We are committed to ensuring this will not happen again. 

SH1 Piarere to Tīrau night closures continue

The night works and night road closure on SH1 between Piarere and just north of Tīrau (SH1/SH27 intersection) will continue until 6am Friday 18 October.

The closures aren't happening every night - they are from 7pm to 6am, Sunday to Thursday nights. The road re-opens from 6am each Friday morning until 7pm Sunday nights. Residents, businesses and emergency services will have access at all times. Please approach the traffic control team at the closure to help you through.

The detour is via SH29 and SH27 as shown in the map above. It is is 12.9 kms or an extra 10 minutes of travel time.

While this detour is in place at nights, do not use Totman Road as a shortcut.  It is only open to residents. 

SH1 Tokoroa - Kinleith - upper Ātiamuri closure starts Monday 7 October

The next closure starts at 5am on Monday 7 October between Tokoroa to Kinleith / upper Ātiamuri. This is the biggest section of work undertaken and the longest closure so far. It is large and complex, spanning 17km and encompassing 4 separate work areas, ranging from 2.9km to 5.7km in length. 

All through-traffic, such as those heading further south, will be detoured via SH32 and SH30 (also known as Maraetai Road in Tokoroa, Whakamaru Road and Ongaroto Road in Ātiamuri) and vice versa. This will add approximately 16 minutes (23km) to journey times. Local freight (those travelling from Taupō to Tokoroa) can use SH30/32, and freight travelling further north can use SH5/30 instead.

Tokoroa will still be open for business during the road closures, including those businesses located just south of SH32 such as Robert Harris and Subway. Access will also be maintained for emergency vehicles and residents. 

Additional signage will be placed at the detour point advising businesses beyond this point are still open.  We need to advise the detour earlier to those on longer journeys so they can use the appropriate state highways.

Those wanting a round of golf, or participating in the Tokoroa Golf Club Champs, will have access to the club from Tokoroa via Old Taupō Road and Kinleith Road then will have access onto SH1.

The work is expected to take 6 weeks to complete, weather permitting. We will communicate the re-opening date as the work progresses, and we have more certainty. 

Trucks, horse floats and recommended detours

While we recommend and advertise official detours, drivers should plan their journey ahead of their travel and allow for increased traffic and travel time.

We ask that HPMV traffic adhere to the official heavy vehicle detours and do not travel on roads that are not suitable for HPMV. There is a useful map showing the roads HPMV can use.

Road users cannot use private roads.  This includes roads such as Tram Road in Kinleith Forest which is a private road for forestry vehicles only.

The SH30/SH32 route is suitable for both light and heavy traffic, however due to some narrow areas along the corridor coupled with few overtaking opportunities, we have directed freight / heavy vehicles to consider their routes carefully ahead of time and use SH5 through Rotorua if heading further afield than Tokoroa.

We know there are many people travelling to horse shows and events in the area. For these same reasons above, whilst you are permitted to use SH30/32 while towing a horse float, our recommended detour route for those towing is via SH5 through Rotorua, due to the narrow corridor and few overtaking opportunities on SH30/SH32.

Whichever route you take, please drive carefully, to the conditions and take care.

Drop-in session held in Tokoroa

Thank you to all those who took the opportunity to come and talk to the team during our drop-in session in Tokoroa on Thursday afternoon.  About 60 people came along and we received a lot of feedback - some positive and some not.  We are assessing the information we gathered.

We heard many were concerned about the extra costs and time associated with the closures. Those with businesses affected are worried about loss of trade and income and many wanted more notice of upcoming closures.

We are open to running more of these drop-in sessions in the future if there is community demand.  Please contact us if you would like us to hold more events where you can discuss the closures with the project team. 

What's the goal?

Overall, this project is aiming to deliver 41.1 lane kilometres of rebuilt road - 4 years’ worth of road renewals completed within 16 months. That’s more than double the past 3 seasons’ work combined.

This volume of work can only be achieved under road closures. While the road is closed, we are also undertaking other maintenance work such as drainage improvement, vegetation clearance and resealing.

The SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru accelerated maintenance project forms part of the government’s $2.07 billion investment into road and drainage renewals and maintenance between 2024 and 2027.

Night works between Piarere and Tirau

Why full closures? Why not open the road at night?

Some have asked why we are having a full closure including nights, and why crews are not working 24 hours, 7 days a week.

While on some sites there is not machinery and people working on the roads at night, there is a lot of behind the scenes work being undertaken. This includes planning and logistical work, such as refuelling, and getting the appropriate machinery and materials to the site.

The sites are also prepared so everything is ready and crews can start as soon as there is sufficient light to allow them to work safely and efficiently.

The other factor taken into account was the amount of time and cost of preparing the site for re-opening to traffic at nights. To deliver the amount of road rebuilding and maintenance needed, there is just not the luxury of being able to do this every night. 

Stakeholder Advisory Group

Our first Stakeholder Advisory Group was held this week and thanks to all those who participated.  There was good discussions around community concerns, some suggestions for ways to improve communication to some areas, and a unanimous theme that everyone wanted to see a quality product at the end of the work. 

We agreed to hold these sessions monthly and would invite anyone else interested in participating to contact us via email. The meetings are held online, and are for an hour. 

New tool showing future road works

The Forward Works dashboard displays the expected state highway pavement and surfacing renewal programme. This new tool is an excellent way of seeing what is planned to be completed during the current financial year construction season (October to March).

Indicative dates of future SH1 closures

We are finalising plans for further sections of SH1 to be fully closed right down to Waiouru. For the townships, we intend to use nightworks only to lessen disruption.

Underway this month:

• SH29 Piarere to North Tīrau: 29 September 2024 for 3 weeks (night closure only).
• SH32 Tokoroa to SH30 Ātiamuri: 7 October 2024 for approximately 6 weeks

Coming up in the future:

• SH28 Putāruru to SH32 Tokoroa: Late November – 23 December 2024
• SH30 Ātiamuri to SH5 Wairakei part 2: November – December 2024. It is expected this closure will not be in place during the International Ironman event in Taupō 14-15 December 2024.  

2025 potential plans: 

• SH41 Tūrangi to SH49 Waiouru: January - February 2025
• SH1/SH5 Roundabout Taupō to Tūrangi: March - April 2025
• Tīrau township to SH1/SH5 roundabout: Spring 2025
• Taupō urban: Spring 2025

More detailed information on dates, durations and detours will be shared as soon as it is available.

Please note there will be additional work required in these sections a few months after the initial closures. This is to lay the final asphalt surface coat on where the road has been rebuilt.

The rebuilt road needs time with normal traffic using it in order to settle in.  Applying the final asphalt surface before this has happened will result in a poorly finished surface. The work required to apply the final coat will only take a short time and some may possiby be done at night.

More information

Please pass this on to others who may be using SH1 in the next few months and encourage them to sign up to this newsletter by using the subscribe button below. 

For more information or any concerns on the SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance, please email us.

Please visit our website nzta.govt.nz/t2w