Hawke’s Bay Expressway gets $600m: Four-lanes for ‘busiest’ stretch, ‘fewer deaths’ and flood protection

A glimpse of the new northbound bridge over the Tutaekuri River, as shown in the fly-through video released by NZTA in June.

The New Zealand Transport Agency has approved $600 million to build four lanes on the “busiest” section of Hawke’s Bay Expressway.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop on Friday confirmed construction will start in November.

The agency’s board endorsed the investment case for the most congested part of the expressway, between Links Rd/Pākōwhai Rd and Taradale Rd roundabouts, including a new grade-separated interchange at the Links Rd/Pākōwhai Rd roundabout.

“Hawke’s Bay is home to about 166,000 people and that is expected to increase to 202,000 by 2048, with most of that growth in Napier and Hastings,” Bishop said.

“Upgrading the existing expressway in a staged and affordable way will ensure we can deliver benefits sooner by alleviating congestion currently being experienced by road users, improve safety, reliability, and resilience, and accommodate future growth.”

Work on the project will include 7km of four-laning between the Links Rd and Pākōwhai Rd intersection and Taradale Rd, two two-lane overpasses at Meeanee Rd and Kennedy Rd, a two-lane bridge over the Tutaekuri River, and a four-lane grade-separated interchange at the Links Rd and Pākōwhai Rd intersection.

This part of the project is expected to be completed by early 2028.

The project will also involve the four-laning 500m of the expressway south of the Links Rd and Pākōwhai intersection, plus an overpass at that intersection.

Contracts for the road and bridge packages of work will be confirmed through a procurement panel that was established late last year.

The interchange will provide road users and freight with “almost 12km of free-flowing, uninterrupted travel, and a more reliable connection to Hawke’s Bay Airport and the port”.

“The investment case has shown up to 39% improvement in travel times, up to 36% improvement in travel time reliability, up to seven fewer deaths and serious injury crashes, and twice the resilience to flood closure,” Bishop said.

He said tolling has not been pursued as current legislation did not allow tolling across a route where only part of the corridor is being delivered as new infrastructure.