"It will also improve the connection to Napier Port and support regional economic growth by reducing travel times, improving access and efficiencies for moving people and goods along this key route.
"Safety is Waka Kotahi's top priority and this project is part of a wider investment we're making across the Hawke's Bay and East Coast to make the state highway network safer and more resilient for everyone."
This project is part of the regional package of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme and is estimated to cost $13 million.
It is being staged to minimise disruption and works are currently in the early stages with vegetation being stripped from the site, setting up environmental control ponds and preparing for work on draining culverts and starting earthworks, Partridge said.
The project started in October and is expected to run until December 2021.
Work costing $1.7 million is also underway to strengthen the resilience of State Highway 2 at the Raupunga and Tahaenui Bridge.
A blessing was held last Saturday to mark the start of the work which is expected to last until early June 2021.
The single-lane bridge, which is the last one-way bridge on SH2 between Napier and Gisborne, will be widened to two lanes.
It is funded through the New Zealand Upgrade Programme and Regional Investment Opportunity programme and forms part of the $137 million Connecting Tairāwhiti Programme.
Work at Raupaunga also started two weeks ago to protect the Raupunga township from erosion from the Mohaka River.
Alongside the bridge widening and Raupunga resilience project, there are other resilience improvements being made at over 20 sites on SH35.
There are 25 new passing opportunities and 10 slow vehicle bays being installed on both SH35 and SH2 between Napier and Ōpōtiki, to be completed over the next two years.
Eight of those sites are being worked on during this summer construction season.
