New plans for State Highway 2

An upgrade of the Omokoroa intersection on State Highway 2 is on its way.

Updated plans to improve the safety of State Highway 2 between Waihi and Tauranga have been announced, with some projects going ahead immediately and others on the back burner.

The New Zealand Transport Agency has re-evaluated the transport plans for the corridor to align with priorities set out in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport.

It has confirmed the need for a new state highway on the current alignment of the Tauranga Northern Link, with new plans including a two-lane route – one lane in each direction – between Te Puna and Tauranga alongside the existing road.

There is an option for additional lanes on SH2, which may include a range of uses, including enabling public transport to cater for growth to the west of the city.

The construction timing and form of this route will depend on growth and funding priorities across the rest of the country.

NZTA's Brett Gliddon says the first priority is making people's journeys safer with improvements to the existing road, such as flexible median and side barriers, wide centre lines and protecting people from hazards on the roadsides.

"The first section of the $101 million Waihi to Omokoroa safety improvements package is already under way.

'Between Omokoroa and Te Puna, we will start with safety improvements, including an upgrade of the Omokoroa intersection.”

The Katitaki bypass is not included in the new work, however NZTA says it will work with the community to improve traffic management.

'We will continue to hold the land designations which protect the route between Omokoroa and Te Puna, the Katikati bypass and the Tauranga Northern Link. This means we will still have the ability to construct in these designations when the timing is right,” says Brett.

A speed limit review of SH2 between Katikati and Bethlehem is also under way.

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7 comments

Waste of time and money.

Posted on 02-11-2018 13:09 | By jed

4 laning is the only solution. They are just putting lipstick on a pig and wasting taxpayer money.


Hopefully

Posted on 02-11-2018 13:42 | By Merlin

Hopefully some thing will be done with the Quarry Road intersection.There has been about 7 deaths in the space of about two kilometres since I have lived in the area.Their are about 6 of the orange centre markers missing and they have not been replaced.The events at the Quarry Park attracts a large amount of traffic and there has been over nine new houses in the Quarry road area in the last few years.There is also a speed factor on state highway with a rise on both north and south bound traffic by Quarry road.


Speed Limit Review

Posted on 02-11-2018 14:04 | By The Professor

There is some good stuff happening at long last for this stretch of the SH2 but I only hope that the people reviewing the speed limits take into account that this is a state highway and should enable people to commute/travel at a good speed. There is nothing wrong with the road - it is the drivers and I don't see the need to reduce the limit. I am happy to see the review send the limits upward in some places however. If speed limits are going to be reduced, how about using variable limits which reduce the speed of traffic between peak times - say 7:00am - 9:00am and 4:30pm - 6:00pm? When the SH2 is quiet the road is capable of handling existing speeds limits.....at least!!


GREAT

Posted on 02-11-2018 14:16 | By dave4u

But thats not the part where people are getting killed.. dur


Time Will Tell

Posted on 02-11-2018 15:04 | By waiknot

So when the crash rate drops, the anti new road, roads don’t contribute to crashes people will you eat humble pie?


Wasted opportunity

Posted on 05-11-2018 00:03 | By Bay Citizen

Speed limits are not the problem. People doing between, say, 90 and 100 kph do not cause crashes and SH2 can easily cater to driving at that speed: as well it should, being a major trunk road. Rather, it is those driving at 140 that cause crashes, as do those driving slowly and selfishly not pulling over. This engenders driver frustration and foolish overtaking manoeuvres made even more dangerous by the sheer volume of oncoming traffic and NZTA having removed overtaking lanes over the years. The proposed works are an expensive cop out and will not solve SH2's problems. They may even make things worse if centre barriers further limit where overtaking is possible and lower speed limits make existing passing lanes all but useless for actually getting past other vehicles quickly and efficiently.


Rexy

Posted on 03-08-2019 12:52 | By Rexy

Let’s consider the current speed limit. 100 kph. Many drivers will drive at 15 to 20 kph below the limit. The minority of drivers who drive at 100 km/h will be compelled to overtake in order to maintain what is essentially a perfectly safe speed for a competent driver on SH2 which is a safe road. The slower drivers are essentially breaking a road rule. The road code describes their speeds as being too low. The answer is not to keep banging on about how drivers should be slowing down but to change driving habits so that all drivers travel at the speed limit. This reduces the need to overtake. Driver skill in New Zealand has sunk to the level where there are large numbers that don’t feel comfortable driving at the speed limit or overtaking. So let’s get people up to speed. Fine slower drivers!!


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