Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined local schoolchildren at our recent Sod Turning and Planting Ceremony.

We’re on the start line!

Consents are in place, design is all but finalised and we are ready to start construction of Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway next month.

Please watch our ‘How the new highway will be built’ animated video to learn more about the four phases of our construction programme, culminating in the opening of the road targeted for December 2024!

We’ve also recently refreshed our project website with a wealth of information about this nationally significant project, tracing its journey from the 2017 closure of the old Manawatū Gorge road, through the phases of consultation, consenting and design, right up to today and the imminent start of highway and shared use path construction.

Earlier this month we enjoyed a visit from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Transport Michael Wood at our Sod Turning and Planting Ceremony in Woodville.

The rain stayed away (but the wind made a very strong appearance!) as our dignitaries led a symbolic turning of the project’s first sods of earth.

Joined by more than 200 community members, iwi partners and local schoolchildren, the PM also led the planting of the first of two million plants and trees that we’ll introduce to the landscape as part of the project’s significant environmental mitigation programme.

Work will start at the intersection of Cook and Saddle roads in mid January.

Cook Road upgrade

Cook Road is one of three main access points to the Te Ahu a Turanga highway construction area and will be upgraded as part of the project. Consent has been granted for this work to begin in the new year.

Work on Cook Road will include new passing bays as well as left-hand and right-hand turning bays at the intersection of Cook Road and Saddle Road, to assist with increased traffic volumes during highway construction. Work will start around the intersection in mid January and is expected to take two weeks to complete.

The passing lane on Saddle Road near the Cook Road intersection will need to be closed at times while this work is completed and new line markings are laid. The lane will be closed permanently in February once the intersection work is complete. Works will then continue on Cook Road itself, for approximately a month.

Signage will be installed on Saddle Road to alert motorists to the increased traffic coming out of Cook Road.

Cook Road will be closed to the public with resident-only access until the highway is complete in December 2024.

Hope Road's 90° bend will feature a give way intersection where access to the construction area will start.

Hope Road upgrade

Hope Road, Woodville, is another of the main access points to the highway construction area and, like Cook Road, will be upgraded as part of the project.

Work on Hope Road will primarily include shoulder widening and new line marking to the intersection with Woodlands Rd, along with reconfiguration of Hope Road's 90° bend to create a give way intersection where access to the construction area will start.

These safety improvement works are needed to help with increased traffic volumes during highway construction and to allow larger delivery vehicles room to turn safely.

The work is expected to take about three weeks to complete and will start in mid to late January.

Woodlands Road will be impacted with a shoulder closure for the duration of the intersection upgrade work. This will also require a reduction to a single lane, with stop/go controls, for some of the shoulder widening, line marking and sealing. This is expected to take around a week.

No work is planned for the Saddle Rd intersection with Hope Rd.

Access track off Saddle Road

We are currently creating a site access track off Saddle Road, Ashhurst. This will pass under the Pohangina Bridge to reach construction sites for the project's two major bridges.

The turn-off to this track is just after the Pohangina Bridge as you drive out of Ashhurst.

To ensure safety, public access from this location to the river is now closed.

More information

For more information, please use one of more of the following methods:

nzta.govt.nz/teahuaturanga

facebook.com/nztacni

twitter.com/wakakotahicni

0800 740 560

teahuaturanga@nzta.govt.nz