Hawke’s Bay Expressway four-laning project beginning work beside Tūtaekuri River

• Work on the State Highway 2 Hawke’s Bay Expressway widening begins January 13, with overnight closures.
• Temporary 70km/h speed limit and overnight road closures will be in place during construction.
• State Highway 51 at Clive will have night closures and a 30km/h speed limit for resealing, while State Highway 2 in Mohaka has a 30km/h speed limit for resurfacing.

Work is starting on the first Hawke’s Bay Expressway widening project near a river, as the four-laning of the road of national significance rolls on.

From Monday, January 13, work alongside Tūtaekurī River Bridge on State Highway 2 near Meeanee and Taradale will begin with vegetation clearance.

Repurposed silt will then be laid to raise the land alongside the bridge and create a wide, flat surface for the construction of the project.

The construction will then begin later in 2025, once the silt has compacted.

From January 13 there will be a temporary 70km/h speed limit through this area and road users will notice a lot of activity off to the side of the northbound lane, including silt transportation and construction from the beginning of February.

From Monday, January 20 to Thursday, January 23, sections of the Hawke’s Bay Expressway will be closed from 8pm to 5am each night for a range of maintenance work, with work expected to finish by 5am on Friday, January 24.

The expressway project team will use these closures to install a temporary steel barrier to separate traffic from the Tūtaekurī River Bridge work site.

Crews will also be sealing the Kennedy Rd on-ramp, sealing between Prebensen Drive and Taradale Rd, and between Meeanee and Pākōwhai/Links Rds, plus other work including median barrier replacement and lane marking.

State Highway 51 at Clive will also be closed between 8pm and 5am for five nights for resealing, with work starting on Monday, January 13, and finishing at 5am on Saturday, January 18.

Outside the closure times the road will be open, with a 30km/h temporary speed limit in place.

During the work, southbound traffic will be detoured down Awatoto Rd, into Meeanee Rd, and onto Hawke’s Bay Expressway. The reverse will apply for northbound traffic.

Meanwhile in Mohaka, work to resurface a State Highway 2 slow vehicle bay will begin on Tuesday, January 14.

This work is expected to take a fortnight to complete and stop/go traffic management will be in place along a stretch of the southbound lane which runs alongside the slow vehicle bay, south of Raupunga.

A temporary speed limit of 30km/h will also be in place.

These closures are expected to add five to 10 minutes to people’s journeys and detours will be clearly signposted, according to a New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) spokesman.

These closures are weather dependent and if required, contingency dates will be communicated by NZTA.