MPs Catherine Wedd (l) and Katie Nimon

Official release – NZ Government

NZTA has announced the commencement of work to expand the HB Expressway. Here’s how the project will unfold.

  • The Hawke’s Bay Expressway project is a 27-kilometre corridor that will be delivered indicatively in four stages to allow for rapid delivery over a number of years, allowing for design of one section to occur in parallel to another section. Planned stages and scope are as follows:
  • Stage 1: Taradale Road to Pākowhai Road.
  • Stage 2: Pākowhai Road to Omahu Road and Taradale Road to Prebensen Drive.
  • Stage 3 and 4: Watchman Road to Prebensen Drive and Omahu Road to Pakipaki.
  • Ground improvement enabling works are required along State Highway 2 in the Hawke’s Bay to ready the corridor for construction. The enabling works will occur over the next 3-4 months and include clearing existing vegetation, then placing safe repurposed Cyclone Gabrielle silt to raise the level of the land and create a wide, flat surface. This process speeds up the natural process of compaction, allowing the soil to settle and the sediment to consolidate, prior to further construction works commencing.
  • Planning and design of the Stage 1 main works has already begun, with an investment case due to the NZTA Board later this year. Pending approval, construction is expected to begin on Stage 1 in late 2025. Stage 1 will focus on improvements to the section of Expressway that is most congested during peak traffic, which is 6.5km of SH2 between the roundabouts at Taradale Road and Pākowhai/Links Road.

MPs Catherine Wedd and Katie Nimon commented.

“We campaigned heavily for the four-laning of the Hawke’s Bay Expressway, and now we have shovels in the ground and diggers ready to make it a reality. This will mean construction will begin 15 months earlier than we thought,” said Wedd. “This is welcome news for our region as it will help drive productivity and get people around safely and efficiently. 

Nimon added: “I get asked every week about the start date, so to get this news and to see work starting makes a huge difference to people’s well-being. Progress is so important. We are a government of action and delivery and looking at the diggers on Kennedy Rd already in action, I can safely say we don’t just talk about it, we actually get it done.”

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7 Comments

  2. I really wish that our MPs had put all their energy behind getting our basic infrastructure sorted before having a road widening project put in place – water, sewage, etc all need attention and are more important than a passing lane on the expressway

  3. ALGOOD plan and when its done can we celebrate it in winter with the cassic cars & iron rally machinery 0n art deco as the link would be sorted. thanks to all people that give this type of work ago.

  4. There is no need to go as far as Watchman Rd with a 4-lane Highway. The piece of 2-land highway between Prebensen Drive and Watchman Rd does not get congested. The issue is Hastings to Napier congestion at peak hours.
    Ahuriri Estuary/Te Whanganui a Orotu is one of the ‘jewels’ of Napier (to quote the local councils). Any further widening of road bridges across the estuary invades sensitive wildlife/flora areas. The western side, The Scrapes area in Westshore Lagoon, is where the Bar/Tailed Godwits/Kuaka always roost when not feeding. The eastern side of the road, on NCC land, are ponds that are home to ‘At Risk, uncommon’ native plant Thyridia repens/Maori Musk. Waka Kotahi let us down when they built the 2-lane expressway. It was to be a full span bridge, until at the last minute they filled half the channel in, affecting the water flow to the Upper Estuary by a significant amount. We don’t want any further invasive infrastructure into the estuary, degrading the environment of a Wildlife Refuge.
    The National Party may well crow at their ‘action’, but at what cost to the well-being of our already-stressed estuary environment?

  7. What a pity they are clearing all the trees they planted along this side of the expressway, love watching all the native birds playing & eating from the flax flowers along there, why are all the expansions on this side

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