Speed limits on three Far North state highway spots under review

Speed limits on the north and south sides of Kaingaroa in the Far North are under review.

People in the Far North have just over a week left to make submissions on plans to review speed limits on sections of highway in the region.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is consulting on four sections of state highway at three locations in Northland – SH10 Kaingaroa (north and south sides), SH1 Moerewa to Kawakawa, and SH1 Hukerenui.

The government introduced the Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 last year, setting out how speed limits on New Zealand roads will be managed in a way that supports economic growth, boosts productivity and enables people to get to where they are going efficiently and safely.

NZTA is responsible for managing speeds on state highways, while councils are responsible for managing speeds on local roads in their districts.

The new rule introduces several key changes to the way speed limits are set. It also automatically reverses speed limits that were lowered over the past few years on several categories of roads. For two of these categories (state highway inter-regional connectors and rural connectors), the rule allows NZTA to consult to gauge if the public supports some of these locations staying at the present speed limits rather than having them reversed.

A fact sheet on the changes can be found at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/driving-safely/speed/state-highway-speed-management/.

This consultation is seeking feedback on support levels on four of these locations in Northland.

“We originally lowered the speed limit on these sections of state highway after undertaking technical assessments to understand the road environment, its layout and use, and following extensive consultation with the community, iwi partners and stakeholders,” an NZTA spokesperson said.

“These sections of state highway have been included in the consultation because we want to test the level of support again to see if it has changed.”

Consultation is open until March 13.

For more information and to make a submission go to https://nzta.mysocialpinpoint.com/speed-reversals-and-consultations/NZ-Transport-Agency-speed-reversal-consultation-Northland.