Welcome to the first update on the Tarata Road Resilience Project.
You’re receiving this email because you either:
•    Provided your email address in the 2024 community survey, or
•    Attended the community meeting in Tarata on Thursday, 18 September 2025.
In this newsletter is a summary of what was discussed at the meeting and responses to questions raised.

About the project  

Tarata Road has experienced significant deterioration due to increased logging traffic.

With further growth expected, your community has advocated for improvements to ensure the road’s safety and resilience.

A local working party has been collaborating with us to guide priorities.

The 2024 community survey indicated strong support for using the Tarata Road Endowment Fund to kickstart improvements.

An independent pavement assessment identified six priority sites for upgrades over the next two years.

We successfully secured money from NZ Transport Agency's (NZTA) Targeted Resilience Fund, which has been matched by $2.6m from the Endowment Fund. This means we can accelerate work on four of the six sites. The remaining two will be funded through Council’s maintenance and renewal budgets.

1: Toro Road to Dog Trials Site

• Start: Mid-October 2025
• Finish: Before Christmas 2025 (weather permitting)
• We're starting with the furthest point, to reduce the volume of heavy traffic travelling on newly sealed pavement, to help it last longer. 

2: Pukeho – Toro Road

• Start: After Christmas 2025
• Finish: By 30 April 2026
• Landowners: We've been meeting with affected landowners of both of these sites. Because we are widening the road in some sections to make it safer and by improving the geometric curves, there are some areas where fences need to be shifted, or land purchases are required.

Traffic Management:

• Expect short delays (a few minutes in most instances) during construction.
• If full closures are needed, we’ll notify you via email and the community Facebook page.
• Closures will avoid peak times (e.g. school bus schedules).

3: Tarata Saddle

• Issues: Narrowing due to slips; safety concerns.
• Plan: We have the support from Ngāti Maru to widen the road into their reserve to improve safety here.
• Timing: Targeting summer school holidays 2026, pending wildlife permits from the Department of Conservation as there are lizards and bats in the area. We're currently working through this and if permits are delayed, work will shift to summer 2027.

Traffic Impact:

• Because of the nature of the works and the narrowness of the road it is likely there will be a full closure for part of the works. We'll coordinate with Fonterra and do our best to minimise length of time we need to close the road to a minimum. 
• Remainder under stop/go.
• Conversations so far have identified a community preference for the works to take place over the summer school holidays to minimise disruption. 
   
• Duration: Approx. 4 weeks.

3: Tarata Saddle

These three sites are planned for the following construction season, although we may look to bring forward the earthworks.

4: Mungu Road to Autawa Road

• Start: October 2026
• Scope: Road widening and curve improvements. 
• Landowners: One-on-one meetings starting soon. Because we are widening the road in some sections to make it safer and by improving the geometric curves, there are some areas where fences need to be shifted, or land purchases are required.

5: Slippery Hill

• Issue: Slip undermining road; poor geometry.
• Timing: Summer 2027 (exact dates TBC).
• Landowners: Meetings will begin once timing is confirmed.

6. Autawa Road to Otaraoa Road

• Goal: Aim is to complete full extent of works by 30 June 2027.
• Note: If funding is tight, some work may roll into the next period (completion by Christmas 2027).

Looking ahead 

After these six sites, we’ll continue improving other sections of Tarata Road as part of our regular maintenance programme. We’ll also keep seeking additional NZTA funding to match the Endowment Fund and accelerate progress.

The next planned site(below) is from the end of the two-lane section to just before Pukeho Road in 2027/2028.

Questions from community meeting

Q. Can we remove the trees nearing the end of Slippery Hill?
A. These trees are on private land, so we are unable to remove.

Q. When Tarata Saddle is closed and Otaraoa Road is prioritised as a detour route could there be Traffic signals at the tunnel?
A. We can look to include this in the Traffic Management plan but can’t confirm at this stage.

Q. Past the Purangi Saddle, is there anything planned to improve this small section of road along the ridge?   
A.  We currently have nothing planned for this section aside from ongoing maintenance.          

Q. How do we ensure that our pothole enquiries are addressed promptly?
A. Email it through to enquiries@npdc.govt.nz; the problem with potholes over winter in particular when there are heavy vehicles using the road is that the repair doesn’t last.

Stay in touch 

If you have any questions or feedback:

• Email Liz Beck or phone us on 06 7596060.  
• Follow our project page for updates here