SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance update

29 September 2025

Taupō to Tūrangi: Work continues at Waitahanui. Lane shifts and temporary speed limits are in place, please follow the traffic management and stick to the speed limits. Night work continues at Hatepe Hill using stop/go traffic management.  Work at Hatepe is Sunday to Thursday, please prepare for some delays. This work is subject to weather.

Tīrau: Overnight road closures continue. State Highway 1 (SH1) is closed south of the Rose Street/Hillcrest Street intersection between 7pm and 6am Sunday to Thursday. During the day SH1 is open under temporary speed limits. Traffic is being detoured via State Highway 27 (SH27), Patetere Street, Okoroire Road, Hetherington Road, State Highway 5 (SH5) and back to SH1. This adds approx. 6 mins and 10km to your journey.

Tīrau: Starting Wednesday 8 October SH1 will be closed overnight between Tīrau, at the SH1/SH5 roundabout, to the SH1/SH28 intersection, for asphalt works. During the day SH1 is open under temporary speed limits. All traffic will be detoured from the roundabout on SH1 to SH5, State Highway 28 (SH28) and back to SH1. This adds approximately 4 mins and 4 kms to your journey between Tīrau and Putāruru.

Work coming up

Putāruru to Tokoroa
Starting Sunday 12 October, to early November, we will be doing overnight work using stop/go traffic management on sites between Putāruru and Tokoroa. Work is between the hours of 7pm and 6am, Sunday to Thursday nights. During the day there are temporary speed limits.

Taupō to Tūrangi - Kiko Road and Motuoapa
Enabling work starts at the Kiko Road intersection mid-October and moves to the southern end of Motuoapa using daytime stop/go. Daytime work will be Monday to Sunday, between the hours of 7am and 6pm. In November this will move to overnight stop/go for road rebuilding. Overnight work will be Sunday to Thursday, between 7pm and 6am.  Outside of the working hours the road will be open under temporary speed restrictions.

All of this work is weather dependent.

Tīrau work south of the SH1/SH5 roundabout and detour map

With works nearly complete on SH1, north of the Tīrau roundabout, the team will be moving to the southern approaches of the roundabout in early October and completing some shoulder work on SH1, south of the roundabout. This is currently scheduled to start Wednesday 8 October for approximately 1 week. It is weather dependent. Work will be between 7pm and 6am Sunday to Thursday. During the day SH1 is open under temporary speed limits. Traffic will be detoured from the roundabout on SH1 to SH5, State Highway 28 (SH28) and back to SH1. This adds approximately 4 mins and 4 kms to your journey.

Putāruru to Tokoroa works early October

Starting Sunday 12 October, to early November, we will be doing overnight work using stop/go traffic management on sites between Putāruru and Tokoroa. This is to complete the final surface on the areas we worked on in season 1. We will also be doing road rebuilding at the northern end of Tokoroa, near Chambers Street.

This work will happen between 7pm and 6am, Sunday to Thursday nights. Outside of working hours traffic management and temporary speed limits will be in place during the day.  Please prepare for some delays while we are doing this work. We expect this work to be completed by early-November, weather dependent.  We will be doing road rebuilding at the southern end of Tokoroa, near Mossop Road in early January 2026.

Taupō to Tūrangi - Kiko Road and Motuoapa works early October

Work is underway at Waitahanui and Hatepe Hill and our next steps are to start enabling work at the southern end of Motuoapa and the Kiko Road intersection.

How will this work affect nearby residents and businesses?

Enabling work starts at Kiko Road in mid-October and the southern end of Motuoapa using daytime stop/go. The team will be replacing kerb and channel and completing subsoil drainage and other maintenance. As we talked about last week, this drainage work helps manage water off the road and prevent those pesky potholes. It needs to be completed before we get into the road rebuilding. In November they will move to overnight stop/go, for the road rebuilding.

Our daytime work will be Monday to Sunday, between 7am and 6pm. Overnight work will be Sunday to Thursday, between 7pm and 6am. Outside of the working hours the road will be open under temporary speed restrictions.

Some noise and vibrations are to be expected with these works. This will be managed, and we aim to keep these to a minimum throughout the work period.     

We understand this work will cause inconvenience and we thank you for your patience while we work to improve these sections of SH1.

Tīrau works – progress

The team have been busy milling between the KiwiRail overbridge and the SH1/SH5 roundabout and laying new asphalt.

Milling is like peeling the old skin off the road so a new surface can be applied. The machine in these photos uses a drum with sharp metal teeth on it that spins and grinds up the old asphalt. How deep it goes depends on how damaged the road is.

At Tīrau we are milling down about 20cm into the road. The millings are then carried up the conveyor belt into the truck. The milling process removes cracks, bumps, and potholes from the road and helps the new asphalt stick better. The milling material is taken to local quarries and recycled where it can be used as fill in other areas to build new roads.

T2W is not the only show on the road

We’ve been saying for a while that T2W is not the only show on the road and now we can illustrate just how much maintenance work is happening on our state highway network in a snazzy interactive map. 

This interactive map shows state highways we're rebuilding or resealing over this summer and the next two years. In total we'll be rebuilding or resealing over 2100 lane kilometres of state highways. The map also includes state highways we expect to finish rebuilding or resealing over the next 2 summers.

This is part of the Government’s $2.07 billion investment in road and drainage renewals and maintenance between 2024 and 2027. That is also how T2W has been funded.

We’re using this funding to invest more in rebuilding state highways over the next 3 years – this means more disruptive roadworks in summer but better state highways to drive on for years to come. Depending on where you travel, you'll already be travelling on rebuilt state highways following our similar volume of work last summer.

This work takes place alongside our other programmes, such as large-scale infrastructure delivery and ongoing recovery works. Sign up for emails about roadworks happening on state highways in Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.

Why is summer time always busy for road works?

To complete roadworks properly, we need warm, dry conditions, or the repairs simply won't work. The materials we use when building roads are susceptible to water.

In winter the ground temperatures are too cold, and conditions are too damp. When it’s too damp, we can’t compact the road properly and any repairs won’t last.

The summer months are the busiest time for roadworks on the roads because they’re warmer and drier – perfect conditions to get good results.

We plan around holidays and community events to minimise any disruption to people's journeys during those very busy periods.

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