Emergency speed limits are due to expire on the bypass route since the closure of the Manawatu Gorge and the NZ Transport Agency has opened public consultation on proposed permanent speed limits.
Crashes along the Saddle Rd bypass route have increased by 88 per cent and emergency speed limits were
put in place in January 2018.
The agency's director safety and environment Harry Wilson said that as the emergency speed limits were due to expire, NZTA's priority was to make the Saddle Rd a safer route.
Traffic volumes on Saddle Rd have increased from 150 to 5100 vehicles a day since the closure.
Before the closure there were a total of five reported crashes between 2013 and 2016.
Since the closure there have been 33 reported crashes, including one fatal and two serious injury crashes.
"Because Saddle Rd is being used as an alternative route for the closed Manawatu Gorge, NZTA is managing and maintaining Saddle Rd on behalf of three councils," Wilson said.
NZTA is consulting on proposed speed limits either side of the length of Saddle Rd within the Manawatu district.
