$278m upgrade for Coromandel route

Click on the image to zoom in

The Government has announced it will carry out a $278 million upgrade to State Highway 2 between Pokeno and the SH25 intersection.

The 32km long stretch of road will be widened to three lanes, which can be further widened to four lanes if needed in the future, with two lanes for traffic heading west towards Auckland.


The government has announced it will spend $278 million upgrading State Highway 2 between Pokeno and the SH25 intersection. View the slideshow to see a larger image. Image: Supplied

Transport Minister Simon Bridges says work will begins this year on the design, consents and property purchase for the upgrade which will be carried out in five stages over several years.

'These upgrades will help ease congestion and improve journey predictability, making a huge difference for the local community, the freight industry and for people travelling north after a weekend on the Coromandel,” he says.

Along with the extra lane, a new roundabout will be built and four interchanges separating state highway and local traffic will be constructed.

Over the past five years there's been 18 crashes on the 32km stretch of road which has resulted in 34 deaths and serious injuries.

Simon says the long term goal of the upgrade is to reduce death and serious injury crashes by 80 per cent over 20 years.

'Evidence tells us the majority of crashes on this stretch of highway are either head-on or where the vehicle runs off the road so median barriers and guard rails will also be installed.

'We also want to provide safer choices for cyclists and ensure local people have safe access to their homes, schools and businesses,” says Simon.

Construction is expected to get underway in 2017/18.


The 32km stretch of State Highway 2 which will be upgrade. Courtesy of Google Maps.

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1 comment

Do it right first time

Posted on 27-04-2016 14:43 | By Tga local

Do the job once, and do it properly. Make it 4 lanes where the road can be built away from the existing road, and create a new 2 lane road running parallel to the existing one if not. Then, when the new road is finished, you can divert traffic off the old road and repair it with no traffic holdups. It worked well on the Eastern Link. And why don't we aim for zero deaths?


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