SH2 Waihī to Tauranga Corridor Pānui

Āio ki te rangi
Āio ki te whenua
Āio ki a tātou
Āio ki te ao katoa

Tēnei te mihi atu ki a koutou i runga i ngā ahuatanga o te wā. Ko te tūmanako ia kei te noho ora koutou ki tēnā pito ki tēnā pito huri noa i te rohe. Anei te SH2 Waihī ki Tauranga pānui, nō reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.

Kia haumaru te haere.

Let peace reign above
Let peace reign below
Let peace reign within us all
Let peace reign everywhere

Greetings to everyone at this time and we hope you are all well. This is the latest edition of the SH2 Waihī to Tauranga corridor pānui for stakeholders.

Safe travels.

Major works ahead at Cambridge Road

Construction work to complete the new Cambridge Road Overbridge, between Bethlehem and Tauriko has entered its final phase.

The crew has completed service relocations, earthworks, piling, laid beams and poured the concrete deck, now the bridge is nearly complete, the focus shifts to the tie-in work which will result in the new alignment of Cambridge and Moffat roads.

This next phase is complex as it requires coordination between multiple teams working on the bridge structure, utilities, drainage, and earthworks – as well as significant traffic management including detours, road and lane closures and temporary speed limits. There will be an inevitable impact for people who travel through this area and we are working with Tauranga City Council, schools and residents on the impacts of this work. Significant disruption is anticipated between January and April 2024 when a section of Moffat Road will be closed and a detour in place. 

Further information on the timing of specific road closures and detours will be shared on Journey Planner, VMS boards, and the Waka Kotahi Waikato Bay of Plenty Facebook page, we encourage everyone who travels through this area to look out for updates.

Watch the video online

Read more about Cambridge Road

Takitimu North Link Stage One flyover - Winter 2023

Despite facing two difficult construction seasons since its commencement in 2021, the Takitimu North Link project maintains momentum and the numbers are impressive.

The project team have driven in 5600 metres of pile casings, placed 51 pre-cast beams, poured 4,300 cubic metres of concrete, erected 1,400 tonnes of structural steel, and installed 403,000 linear metres of wick drains—that's the length of a journey from Tauranga to Palmerston North. Finally, 500,000 cubic metres of material has been moved as part of earthworks, and five bridges are in construction.

This drone flyover video over the 6.8-kilometre site with commentary from Daniel Narayan, Graduate Engineer, shows the project's progress to date.

The weather has brought many challenges for the team over the past year—only 65 out of 100 working days through the construction season were dry enough for earthworks. This meant the team focused on bridge structures. That shows how unpredictable weather affects on construction programmes.

Watch the video online

Summer maintenance programme

This coming summer we are planning to complete over 70 lane kilometres of renewals. Key areas of the programme will be the annual chipseal programme on State Highway 2 north of Tauranga to Waihī, and a significant asphalt programme within the Tauranga urban area. 

View programme online

The chipseal programme is completed at night to minimise disruption on an already busy corridor. 

Median barrier and intersection upgrades between Katikati and Ōmokoroa

Every day, 15,000 vehicles travel this section of highway – and that figure is growing by around 2-3% each year. More vehicles on the road, means more risk, and 40% of the crashes that resulted in death or serious injury on this section of highway were due to head-on collisions.

By installing median barriers, we can prevent many of these happening in the future. And by combining median and side barriers, we can reduce road-related trauma by 75%. We have the case studies to support this.

In 2022, funding was allocated to install 14km flexible median barrier between Katikati and Ōmokoroa. Since then, we’ve spoken widely with the community about this safety enhancement to this project, which is part of New Zealand’s Road to Zero strategy.

We've built the first two of six roundabouts at SH2/Rea/Tetley roads, and SH2/Morton Road. The next two are in construction at SH2/Lockington/Matahui roads and SH2/Sharp Road. These provide safe turnaround areas ahead of median barrier installation. 

The minimum 6.25 metre space between the guardrail at the edge of the road and the median barrier allows room for emergency services to get past in an emergency.

These changes will require some patience and understanding, but they will make the road safer for everyone.

Read more about the project here