New intersection speed zones will be installed as part of a raft of speed limit changes across Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) said it received 432 submissions from individuals and organisations during a six-week consultation period on the proposed changes.

Four intersection speed zones will be installed in Waikato and three in the Bay of Plenty.

The agency said the zones made it safer for people to pull into and out of side roads onto busy state highways, or turn from the state highways onto side roads.

When approaching traffic is detected, electronic signs show the temporarily lowered legal speed limit for the highway – changing it from 100km/h to 60km/h.

NZTA director of regional relationships for Waikato and Bay of Plenty Andrew Corkill said research showed the speed zones gave people more time to react to mistakes and avoid collisions. This meant crashes were less likely to happen.

“We’ve seen that when speed limits are reduced, average driving speeds do become lower.”

As well as the speed zones, new speed limits will be applied to the State Highway 2 Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road’s new Wairākei (Pāpāmoa East) and Rangiuru interchanges, and a lower speed limit will be implemented for a section of State Highway 33 at Waipuna Bay near Ōkere Falls.

The speed limit at Waipuna Bay was required to automatically reverse to its previous higher speed limit of 100km/h but NZTA received strong community and stakeholder feedback on a preference to retain the speed limit of 80km/h.

Details of the new speed limits:

Speed limit changes across Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

Tauranga Eastern Link speed limit changes.

All sites have been approved under the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 and will be legalised through the National Speed Limit Register, making them subject to enforcement once the signs are installed and uncovered.