SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru accelerated maintenance project update

SH1 Tokoroa - Upper Ātiamuri now open, East Taupō Arterial set to open next week

29 November 2024

What’s happening on SH1 between Tīrau and Taupō

State Highway 1 (SH1) between Tokoroa and Upper Ātiamuri is now fully open with temporary traffic management in place, please drive carefully on the new road surface. 

Here’s a quick summary of what’s happening on SH1 and what’s coming up in the remainder of 2024 and early 2025. All of the closures are covered in more detail lower down, including detour routes where these have been confirmed.

Current closures:

• East Taupō Arterial section of SH1 expected to open on Friday 6 December. 
• SH1 between Putāruru and Tokoroa until Friday 20 December.

Upcoming closures:

• SH1 between Tūrangi and Waiouru (includes Desert Road) will close from 13 January for approximately 2 months. 
• SH1 from just south of Tīrau to just north of Putāruru planned night closure, rescheduled to early 2025. 

Open but under temporary traffic management:

• SH1 between Tokoroa and Upper Ātiamuri under a temporary speed limit until mid-next week.
• The northern section of SH1 between Upper Ātiamuri and Wairakei. Temporary traffic management may include sections of stop/go.

We recommend checking the NZTA journey planner for more information on closures and travel times.

SH1 between Putāruru and Tokoroa closed until 20 December

Work is in full swing on the section between Putāruru and Tokoroa intersection in the first week of the 4 week closure. 

The old road is being overlaid with a new base layer. From yesterday until Tuesday next week, 3,000 tonnes of metal are being brought onto site each day to build the new sections of road. 

Starting next week the process of foam bitumen stabilising will begin, to prepare the road for sealing.

From Saturday 30 November, there will be a change in the official detour while SH1 between Putāruru and Tokoroa is closed. 

Due to safety reasons, we have taken Waotu Road out of the official detour.

Waotu Road will be open to residents (and their suppliers/visitors) only.

This is being done in an effort to keep people safe while using this detour, and in response to the many concerns the community has about the safety of this intersection.

The dangerous driving that has been exhibited on this detour is unacceptable.

Police are also increasing their presence on the detour and drivers are urged to take their time, and drive safely. Additional signage is being put up on detours warning of the increased traffic.

The detour from tomorrow is (from north to south) Princes Street, Arapuni Street, Arapuni Road, Old Taupō Road, SH32 - Tokoroa and vice versa. 

The detour for HPMVs travelling from Tīrau to Taupō is SH5 and trucks should use this rather than local detours. 

The detour will now add approximately 20 mins and 18km to journey times compared to the normal trip from Putāruru to Tokoroa down SH1. 

Also disappointingly, the first week of the closure was disrupted by vandals, who knocked over or changed the direction of many of the detour signs.  

This irresponsible action leads to potentially dangerous situations for those using the detours, not to mention additional time and cost for those taken if people are sent in the wrong direction.

Moving houses on SH1

Monday night this week was a big night for moving houses on SH1.  

We had 4 houses that had to negotiate the active working site on SH1 between Putāruru and Tokoroa, and then through the Tokoroa to Kinleith site which was under traffic management. There were also another three different houses that needed to go through the active working site on the Eastern Taupō arterial section of SH1.  

There is a system involved in getting these over dimension loads booked in, a permit to travel, then negotiating their way through the site. 

These loads are just too big to take along the detour routes and need to use SH1. Local roads often have narrower sections and smaller bridges which make transporting loads as big as houses impossible. 

The weeks leading up to the holiday season can be a busy time for over dimension loads as there is a moratorium on these using the highways over the holiday period.

SH1 from Tokoroa to Upper Ātiamuri reopens

On Wednesday we were able to open the final stretch between Tokoroa and Upper Ātiamuri. 

There is a temporary speed limit in place for the next few days while the new chip seal is bedded in, please stick to this as it’s there to keep everyone safe. 

These will be removed once the line marking is put in place.

Tīrau to Putāruru night closure postponed

The night closure between Tīrau and Putāruru has been rescheduled to 2025.

We have to make absolutely sure that the road is ready for its final seal. We do this by running a series of tests measuring the rutting, roughness and texture of the pavement layers. 

The initial tests that were carried out did not provide adequate data, so further testing is needed before we can determine when it’s ready for its final seal.

This work will now happen early next year – we’ll let you know when the dates once they have been confirmed.

We appreciate that postponing this work may be frustrating to local residents, businesses and road users and we’re sorry for any inconvenience. 

We’d like to thank everyone for their understanding as we ensure we’re delivering the highest quality road we can.

ETA on track to open next Friday

The northern section of the East Taupō Arterial (ETA) is currently on track to be completed and reopened in about a week’s time. 

The rebuilding is now complete and testing is taking place to confirm that the road is ready for sealing, which is expected to begin this weekend. The team also had a traffic management audit and passed with flying colours. 

A reminder that the detour route for the ETA closure is via Broadlands Road and Ohaaki Road to SH5. This is the best way for state highway traffic to avoid the centre of Taupō, particularly with the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge happening this weekend.

Watch out for bikes this weekend

From today cyclists from around the country will be heading to Taupō to take part in the annual Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge. 

Anyone driving on SH32, SH41 and SH1 around the lake tomorrow should allow extra time for their journey, be patient and allow plenty of room when passing bikes.

With the East Taupō Arterial closed, traffic is detoured down Broadlands Road, which is crossed twice by the Gravel Grind, one of the events held as part of the Cycle Challenge over both sealed and unsealed surfaces.

When the Gravel Grind course crosses Broadlands Road, stop/go traffic control will be in place to give the crossing cyclists priority in both locations. Drivers are also advised to expect heavy traffic and a number of bikes in Taupō itself.

SH1 Desert Road to close 13 January 2025

SH1 Tūrangi to Waiouru – including the Desert Road – will be closed for vital road rebuilding and repairs for around 2 months from Monday 13 January 2025.

This start date is 1 week later than originally planned, to try and reduce the impact on people’s summer holiday journeys. 

This is a very critical piece of road, we can’t postpone the maintenance for long, but we do understand summer holiday journeys are important.

This section of SH1 is in one of the worst conditions in the Waikato region, it’s also one of the most challenging to fix. The alpine environment and potential for a cold snap means we have to do this closure in the peak summer months because the ground temperature needs to be at 13 degrees minimum to carry out pavement works.

We do not take road closures lightly, but by closing this section completely from 13 January, NZTA and contractors are able to complete the work more efficiently and safely. We can use more invasive construction methodology, which would not be possible under stop/go traffic management – meaning SH1 will be quickly brought up to a higher standard.

While this part of SH1 is closed, we’ll be rebuilding 16 lane kilometres and replacing the deck on the Mangatoetoenui Bridge, which is around 23km south of Rangipō. Combining this deck replacement with the maintenance and rebuilding work is an efficiency win for everyone. 

If we attempted this amount of work under stop/go, road users would experience at least 8 weeks of disruption a year over the next 4 summers – in addition to a having to have a full closure for the bridge deck replacement for about a month anyway.

As well as fewer disruptive delays for motorists navigating temporary traffic management at numerous sites, it also means we can attend to other maintenance work such as upgrading drainage, clearing vegetation, and improving signage and road markings. 

More information will be available as soon as the detours are finalised, but it is likely that motorists would be detoured on (from north to south) – SH41, SH47, SH4, SH49 and back to SH1. The detour will add around 30 – 40 minutes to people’s journeys, taking them through the beautiful Ruapehu district. 

It’s not unfamiliar to regular road users in this area, as this is the detour we use every time we do full closures of the Desert Road.

SH46 will be open to give access to residents and businesses and those undertaking recreational activities in that area, but there will be no throughfare to or from SH1. 

NZTA is working with the freight industry and local councils throughout this project. 

Nightworks will be required to lay the final seal. Timing is still to be confirmed.

More information

This work forms part of the government’s $2.07 billion investment into road and drainage renewal and maintenance across 2024-27 via the State Highway Pothole Prevention fund.

Please pass this on to others who may be using SH1 in the next few months and encourage them to sign up to this newsletter by using the subscribe button below.

For more information or any concerns on the SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance, please email us.

Please visit our website nzta.govt.nz/t2w