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SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance update

1 September 2025

In this week’s issue

Taupō to Tūrangi - Waitahanui works start today - Monday 1 September
Recycling our concrete
Work at Hatepe coming up
Smart tech to keep you moving
Tīrau works coming up + detour map
It's all in the details - Tīrau rail overbridge
East Taupō Arterial update

Current and upcoming works

East Taupō Arterial: Night work continues. Expected to be complete this week. Nighttime stop/go, between 7pm and 6am. Expect some delays.

Taupō to Tūrangi: Road rebuilding. Starting Monday 1 September at Waitahanui. Stop/go traffic management during the day for around 2 weeks, then temporary speed limits. Expect some delays.

Tīrau: Nighttime only road closure. Starting Sunday 14 September. Work between the hours of 7pm and 6am Sunday to Thursday (no weekend work). The detour is via State Highway 27 (SH27), Patetere Street, Okoroire Road, Heatherington Road and back to State Highway 1 (SH1). This adds approx 6 mins and 10km to your journey.

All of this work is weather dependent.

Taupō to Tūrangi - Waitahanui works start today - Monday 1 September

Work starts today between Taupō and Tūrangi, on SH1 at Waitahanui. We will have daytime stop/go in place from today, Monday 1 September, 7 days a week until mid-September, from 6am-7pm.

As part of our enabling work, we are taking out the existing kerb and channel around the intersection of SH1 and Wairau Road and Pākira Place in preparation for widening the road in this area to create 2 right turn bays.

Recycling our concrete

The majority of concrete from the current kerb and channel at Waitahanui will go back to Byfords Quarry where it’s crushed and recycled to make more aggregate.

We have about 23,200 square metres of earthworks to complete at Waitahanui. To put that in context, a standard rugby field is about 7,000 square metres so it’s just over 3 rugby fields worth.

Work at Hatepe

Following enabling works at Waitahanui we will start work at the Hatepe passing lanes where we will have nighttime stop/go in place 5 nights a week from approx. mid-September to mid-October. Work will be between the hours of 7pm-6am. There is no planned daytime stop/go for Hatepe at this point. The work is planned from Sunday-Thursday nights, weather dependent.

While we are working hard to stick to dates so people can plan their journeys and factor in any delays – if we get a lot of rain, our schedule will tighten significantly and will require us to move things around.

These photos show the type of areas we are fixing as part of our road rebuilding. This is on the downhill lanes before you reach Hatepe.

Smart tech to keep you moving

Smart Variable Message Signs (VMS) are being used on T2W this season at strategic locations around the state highway network to help you better plan your journey.

The VMS boards are at locations across both SH1 and on secondary routes. For our work between Taupō and Tūrangi they show 2 screens. One flashes the expected travel time for SH1 between Tūrangi and Taupō, and the second shows the expected travel time for the alternative route of SH32/SH41.

We are using the tech so drivers can make an informed choice about which route they want to take. The boards are integrated wirelessly to a traffic monitoring platform that NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) uses to provide real time journey information and use the same information as Google maps. The smart boards have also been used on projects like the Brynderwyns. It is also similar technology to what you might see on electronic boards in our larger city centres like Auckland and Wellington.

Tīrau works + detour map

Work will start at Tīrau on Sunday 14 September. We are using a nighttime closure to complete this work because of the narrow road width. Work will start at 7pm and stop at 6am every night between Sunday and Thursday (no weekend work) for one month. The detour during this time will be via SH27, Patetere Street, Okoroire Road, Heatherington Road SH5 and back to SH1.

During the initial closure we will be rebuilding the road between Tīrau and the roundabout, replacing the kerb and channel and repairing culverts.

We will then need to close the roundabout at SH1/SH5 in early October to complete asphalt work. The detour for that work will be via SH5 and SH28.



	Aerial photo of the site at Tīrau pre-works. We are rebuildng the road, replacing kerb and channel and attending to culverts and drains



	An example of the areas we are fixing as part of our work in this area


	It's all in the details - Tīrau rail overbridge At Tīrau our road rebuilding has an extra detail. Our work will pass under the KiwiRail overbridge. As part of our planning, we have surveyed the existing height of the road in relation to the bridge. We will continue surveying the road levels throughout the rebuilding process to ensure the road is rebuilt back to the same level. Just one of the many different details and situations we have to consider when we do our road rebuilding and maintenance work.

East Taupō Arterial update

Work is progressing well on the East Taupō Arterial and we are expecting to complete our work there this week.

We will be coming back in February 2026 to put the final smooth surface on the road so you will see us out on the ETA a few times this road maintenance season.


	Asphalting work on the ETA last week.


	More information

For more information on the SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance, contact us at SH1Waikato@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website nzta.govt.nz/t2w