Hawke's Bay highway realignment back on the road again

A concept image for the new southbound passing lane in the College Rd to Silverstream realignment of State Highway 2 between Hastings and Waipawa. Photo / NZTA

A $13 million realignment of a 1.7km stretch of State Highway 2 between Hastings and Waipawa is back on the road again after delays which have put completion back close to a year.

The College Road to Silverstream Realignment, otherwise known as the Poukawa realignment, started in November 2020 and was scheduled at the time to be completed by the end of December 2021.

But Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency Safe Networks programme manager Rob Partridge said the project timeframes had been revised as a result of a combination of factors, including the impact of Covid-19 (lockdowns and impacts on supply chains), resource consent approvals and programme changes.

It is now scheduled for completion in "Q4" - October-December this year.

The project, funded from the NZ Upgrade Programme, includes a new southbound passing lane, wider shoulders, median and side barriers and a right-turn bay into College Road.

"This will improve the safety of this key freight route connecting Hawke's Bay and Manawatū and provide safer passing opportunities," Partridge said.

Setting the new completion date of the fourth quarter of this year, NZTA had worked closely with stakeholders of the project, including the Central Hawke's Bay District Council, to ensure they had "visibility" of the revised timeframes, Partridge said.

The NZTA says a review of the crash history of the area for 10 years, until 2019, revealed 23 crashes had been reported.

No fatalities were recorded but there were three serious injury crashes and nine minor injury crashes.

The majority of crashes were loss of control and or head-on, with more than half being on bends.

Analysis found the "overwhelming" percentage of lost control on a bend suggested drivers were travelling too fast for the road environment.

"This could either be due to driver error or that the bends are out of context with the road segments either side and drivers are being 'caught out' by the twisting terrain," NZTA staff said.