SH1B Telephone Road Update

Road upgrade work almost complete - Holland Road/Marshmeadow Road set to reopen next week

15 May 2025

Telephone Road at the rail crossing ready for its final asphalt surface

SH1B upgrade work will be complete next week, rail crossing remains closed until late July

The upgrade of the State Highway 1B Telephone Road railway crossing is almost complete, with final surfacing work underway.

We currently expect this to be complete, and the Holland Road/Marshmeadow Road intersection reopened to traffic, by the middle of next week.   

While the road will reopen, the rail crossing on Telephone Road will remain closed until KiwiRail has completed their signalling work, which is currently expected to be in late July.

The signalling work is a vital part of the upgrade to safely allow vehicles to start using the Telephone Road rail crossing once again. 

Once Holland Road reopens next week, shipping containers will be put across the road to prevent vehicles using the rail crossing until KiwiRail have completed their work.

Pedestrian access across the rail crossing will also no longer be possible, including the Puketaha School students who have been able to walk across twice a day. 

Both Puketaha School and the Ministry of Education, who manage the school bus routes, have been informed.   

Temporary traffic management will be in place until July showing the SH1B detour around Holland Road, Waverley Road and Seddon Road. This is the same detour that was in place from when the crossing first closed in 2022 until the start of the upgrade project in February this year.

We ask the Puketaha community to bear with us for just a couple more months until the crossing can fully reopen.  

Thank you for your patience

As we hit the home stretch for the roading component of this project, we'd like to once more thank the community for your patience while SH1B Telephone Road has been closed at the rail crossing.

We know that this has been disruptive period and we appreciate your understanding and support, both while the upgrade has been underway and the previous couple of years while we worked through options to reopen the crossing.  

We're all looking forward to seeing the signalling work complete and the Telephone Road crossing reopened in July.

If you would like to get in touch with us, please email Waikato.Projects@nzta.govt.nz and you can find more information about the project at nzta.govt.nz/projects/sh1b-telephone-road-rail-crossing/.