Highway or the byway: 2749 views on Napier-Taupō speed limits

Open road on State Highway 5: 100kmh, or 80kmh ? Photo/ File

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is assessing the 2749 responses it received after a call for public opinion about proposed speed limits on the Napier-Taupō highway and a section of road between Hastings and Napier.

Agency director of regional relationships Linda Stewart said the responses included 1791 about State Highway 5 between Eskdale and Tarawera, 310 about SH51 between Napier and Wapatu (formerly part of SH2 and includes the beachfront highway south Marine Parade), and 648 general responses about both.

The proposals to cut open-road limits from 100km/h to 80km/h were announced four months ago and put out for public input in mid-April. Stewart said any changes after the agency had looked at the responses would be implemented by the end of the year.

The consultation followed growing concern about the numbers of crashes, fatalities and serious injuries and the deteriorating condition of SH5.

People were also asked to give feedback about speeds on SH5 – from Esk Valley to the SH5 turn-off, and from Taupō to the Rangitaiki Straights.

Stewart said: "Our vision is an Aotearoa where no one is killed or seriously injured on our roads. Everyone using our roads should be able to get to where they're going safely.

"We've gathered valuable local knowledge about how people use the roads and their concerns and we will take this into consideration, alongside our technical assessment of the roads, when making our final decisions," she said.

"We are now carefully analysing the feedback and finalising the technical assessments."

Stewart said Waka Kotahi has completed work on $2.5 million of safety infrastructure improvements for SH5, including side barriers, road markings and rumble lines.

Pending funding confirmation, Waka Kotahi also hopes to do more work, which may include median barriers, side barriers, wide centre-lines and intersection improvements.