SH25/SH25A Thames-Coromandel

12 February 2026

TOP PHOTO: A digger removing unstable material at one of the Kūaotunu slip sites this week. ABOVE: The same site this morning.

Single lane at Kūaotunu – please take care

More than 1000 cubic metres of unstable material was removed during a 3-day closure of State Highway 25 on Kūaotunu Hill this week.

This section is now cleared for 2-way traffic under a speed restriction but another slip a few hundred metres along the road remains single lane, with temporary traffic lights being used to manage traffic through the underslip site.

These sites will continue to be monitored as further investigations are carried out to determine what further work is needed.

Meanwhile, clean-up and recovery work is continuing around the Coromandel and on State Highway 2 through the Karangahake Gorge following the January storms.

There are more than 20 sites along SH25 and through the Karangahake Gorge needing significant repairs, and several will remain reduced to a single lane until that work is done. 

We expect to have work underway at the most urgent sites by the beginning of March, once designs, consenting and other approvals have been completed.

All these sites will continue to be closely monitored.

Anyone travelling around the Coromandel or through Karangahake Gorge is advised to allow extra time for their journey, and to expect traffic management and speed restrictions at some locations.This includes on SH2 in the gorge and on SH25 for a 2km stretch on Pumpkin Hill north of Tairua.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) thanks the Coromandel community and visitors for their patience while we go about restoring full access to SH25 and through the Karangahake Gorge.

An artist's impression of the new bridge looking toward town.

Keeping the community involved

Key stakeholders and community representatives came together this week for the first meeting of a group set up to involve locals in the Pepe Stream Bridge replacement project which gets underway this year in Tairua.

Subject to consents being in place by April, work is expected to start in July on a 2-lane replacement for the single-lane Pepe Stream Bridge on the southern side of town.

A Community Liaison Group (CLG) has been set up involving NZTA, the contractor Fulton Hogan and representatives from community groups.

“We want the community involved in the bridge project and bringing together key stakeholders for regular meetings will enable us and Fulton Hogan to update people on progress and allow for discussion of any issues or concerns affecting the community,” says NZTA’s Director of Regional Relationships Andrew Corkill, who chaired Tuesday’s first meeting.

CLG attendees will report back to and bring forward any queries or issues from their memberships and communities.

“There is a lot of interest in this project. It’s happening right in town, and we need to keep traffic and people crossing the site as the new bridge is built, while causing the least disruption,” Andrew says.

The current pedestrian bridge and single lane road bridge will make way for a new 2-lane bridge, with a shared path on the seaward side and a footpath on the Pepe Road side.

Information day for Tairua bridge project

The project team working on the replacement of Tairua’s aging Pepe Stream Bridge will be back in the town this month to update people on plans and timelines.

A public information drop-in session will be held at the Tairua Community Hall on Thursday 26 February and people can call in any time between 2pm and 6pm.

NZTA Regional Manager for Infrastructure Delivery, Adrian Jones, says that subject to consents being granted by the end of April, the start of construction can be moved from spring to July.

''There will be at lot of activity around the State Highway 25 site leading up to that," Mr Jones says.

Fulton Hogan was awarded the contract in November last year and is working with consultants WSP to finalise consents and design.

"Building a new bridge in a tight urban and coastal environment, while maintaining access for vehicles and walking and cycling, will be challenging. Fulton Hogan’s plans and methodology will be a key part of the information day."

First up, a temporary pedestrian bridge will be built upstream of the current single-lane bridge. Services like water, sewerage and telecoms, will be relocated to this bridge, and then the existing pedestrian bridge will be removed.

Fulton Hogan will build one lane of new bridge and the shared path on the downstream (seaward) side of the old bridge. Traffic will then use the new lane while the old bridge is dismantled, creating room to build the other half of the new bridge and a footpath.

The current bridge crosses a tidal stream on SH25 south of the Tairua town centre. The narrow 3-span bridge opened in 1943.

The bridge replacement is part of a wider bridge programme to improve safety, efficiency and resilience on the state highway around the peninsula.

Planning for a new 2-lane bridge to replace the single-lane Ramarama Stream Bridge on SH25, just north of Whiritoa, is ongoing and subject to concluding land negotiations.

Key dates ahead this year
• Public information day 26 February
• Consent conditions lodged by end of February
• Consents granted by end of April
• Detailed design finalised by end of June
• Early works (services etc) May-July
• Subject to consents being granted, construction scheduled to start July
• Bridge completed by December 2027

The green shaded area is the construction zone for the bridge project.

Hall and car park part of construction zone

In planning for the Pepe Stream Bridge replacement, it became clear that trying to keep the Tairua Community Hall and car park open during construction was a major safety risk.

Grouping most construction activities in the hall area minimises disruption and congestion on the town side of the bridge and along Pepe Road.

Even if the hall remained open to the many people and groups who use it, parking would need to be on Pepe Road or beyond and people would be walking in and out of a construction site.

Working with the Community Hall Society, bridge contractor Fulton Hogan has developed a plan to accommodate hall users at other venues around town for about 20 months.

Feedback from Tairua suggests using existing facilities as a fundraiser is a better option than spending money on erecting and dismantling temporary facilities in Pepe Road, which was the initial plan.

This is a fundraising opportunity for those venues, and in recognition of the inconvenience ahead the contractor will assist hall users with their hire fees.

The hall society, which will lease the hall to Fulton Hogan during the project, will provide administrative support to help this go as smoothly as possible.

Fulton Hogan is keen to make this work and resolve any issues or inconveniences. They require the hall from about mid-May.

The shared path past the hall will remain open but will be temporarily relocated around the construction zone.

Read more about the Pepe Bridge project here

More information

For more information on the SH25/SH25A Thames-Coromandel project, contact us at coromandelprojects@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website nzta.govt.nz/thames-coromandel