NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • Generate wealth weekly
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Push for notorious Bay of Plenty SH2 stretch to return to 100km/h limit

Tom Eley
By Tom Eley
Multimedia journalist·SunLive·
7 Feb, 2025 11:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
National MP for Bay of Plenty Tom Rutherford beside State Highway 2. Photo / David Hall

National MP for Bay of Plenty Tom Rutherford beside State Highway 2. Photo / David Hall

A roading campaigner says safety improvements on State Highway 2 have done their job and it’s time to rethink the speed limit, while the Government is asking for public submissions on whether to raise the speed limit from Te Puna to Katikati from 80km/h to 100km/h.

National MP for Bay of Plenty Tom Rutherford said, “Doing this will push economic growth with trucks and tradies getting to more jobs faster.”

The speed limit for State Highway 2 was changed after a 2019 public consultation by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), when there was a significant public push to make the highway safer, including a public protest, NZTA media manager Natasha Utting said in an email.

“In December 2020, the speed was lowered from 100km/h to 80km/h between Katikati and Te Puna as it was one of the highest-risk roads in the country.”

“This stretch of SH2 has undergone safety improvements since then, including road widening, wide centre lines, intersection improvements and median and side barrier sections,” Utting said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In the 10 years before the speed reduction, 18 fatal crashes and 46 serious injury crashes occurred, according to NZTA.

State Highway 2 was once a rural road that passed through a few settlements and had since developed into a commuter and freight route, Utting said.

“This increasingly busy road currently has around 15,000 vehicles travelling through Katikati and increasing to more than 20,000 vehicles a day further east to Te Puna, with many intersections and driveways with direct access on to SH2.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The existing SH2, through Bethlehem, will stop functioning as a state highway when Takitimu North Link opens and will become a local road through the revocation process.

Fix the Bloody Road campaigner Andrew Hollis said he would like to see a return to the previous speed limit because the variable speed limits could be a distraction.

“With the many different speed zones, it takes a lot of time to think about what speed we ought to be doing in case of ticketing rather than focusing on driving,” Hollis said.

“On the open road, it changes from 80 to 90 to 100 [km/h] on the way to Auckland, at least three different speeds.”

Fix the Bloody Road campaigner Andrew Hollis believes the safety improvements have done their job and it is time to rethink the speed limits.  Photo / NZME
Fix the Bloody Road campaigner Andrew Hollis believes the safety improvements have done their job and it is time to rethink the speed limits. Photo / NZME

He said it used to be simple when monitoring speed: at the edge of a city it was a 70km/h speed limit; on the open road it was 100km/h; and in town it was 50km/h.

Hollis said his group had analysed many crashes occurring on that road before the improvements and in their view tired drivers, not speeding, caused many of the fatalities.

He said the safety improvements had done their job and it was time to rethink the speed limits.

“It’s about the freedom to get in our vehicle and move from point A to point B,” Hollis said.

Western Bay of Plenty resident Rodney Joyce said he supported the speed limit increase.

“Social media commentary today shows a split between those who have grown to like the 80km/h [speed] limit, those that want it back to 100km/h and a few suggesting a compromise of 90km/h,” Joyce said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“I’d say most would want to see it go back to 100km/h, but let’s see what consultation turns up.”

The consultation period closes on March 13.

  • More information here.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand
|Updated

The lure of smalltown NZ: What I learned after an epic 3000km road trip across NZ

New Zealand

'That was a goody': Two earthquakes rattle Wellington, South Island

New Zealand

13 notable Kiwis, nine simple questions about life – how they responded


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

The lure of smalltown NZ: What I learned after an epic 3000km road trip across NZ
New Zealand
|Updated

The lure of smalltown NZ: What I learned after an epic 3000km road trip across NZ

The Mood of NZ: The results of our unofficial road trip poll over past two weeks.

30 Aug 07:02 PM
'That was a goody': Two earthquakes rattle Wellington, South Island
New Zealand

'That was a goody': Two earthquakes rattle Wellington, South Island

30 Aug 06:55 PM
13 notable Kiwis, nine simple questions about life – how they responded
New Zealand

13 notable Kiwis, nine simple questions about life – how they responded

30 Aug 06:22 PM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP