The site of the Waikare Bridge that will disappear from State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa as it is bypassed by a 4km realignment on which an estimated four years of construction is expected to start in 2026. Photo / NZTA
The site of the Waikare Bridge that will disappear from State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa as it is bypassed by a 4km realignment on which an estimated four years of construction is expected to start in 2026. Photo / NZTA
The Automobile Association is welcoming confirmation of a billion-dollar Government spend on two highway projects it says will “significantly boost efficiency, safety and resilience” in Hawke’s Bay.
The Hawke’s Bay Expressway four-laning is costed at $600 million, and State Highway 2 Waikare Gorge realignment between Napier and Wairoa at $350-$425m.
Construction work on the expressway and its Tutaekuri River bridge near Taradale is expected to start by Christmas, but the Waikare project awaits appointment of contractors and sod is unlikely to be turned before the second half of next year.
Government highways manager NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) says the expressway construction will be between Meeanee and Kennedy roads.
Activity at the bridge site includes the building of a working platform and geotechnical investigations are beginning next week further south at the site of the Pakowhai Rd/Links Rd interchange.
A community drop-in session for the public to learn more about the project will be held on November 13 at the Greenmeadows East Main Hall in Tait Drive.
The Government last week announced updated costings for six of 17 Roads of National Significance projects elsewhere, and approval of $1.2 billion for early design, consenting and property acquisition works on some of the highways.
According to Newsroom, figures show a $5.1b “blowout” in the expected combined costs across all of the projects.
Automobile Association Hawke’s Bay chairman David Murray said the investments in the Hawke’s Bay projects are a “shot in the arm” for the region.
The suggested nationwide blowout didn’t surprise him – “because things do cost more going forward” – but he hopes it doesn’t mean the Hawke’s Bay projects would be pushed back in any way.
The Tutaekuru Bridge bottleneck on a hot Friday afternoon, a feature of Hawke's Bay Expressway motoring that could become driving as normal once the four-laning is completed. Photo / Doug Laing
He said projects such as the Waikare Gorge realignment often had problems gaining approval, because they don’t have the high traffic flow of other sites further north and in the Wellington region.
But they do have the crucial need of access to a major food-supplying region and community, he said.
“These critical projects are an investment in our people and economy,” he said.
“The Bay has a growing population, it will allow people to get to where they need to go, and for produce and goods to reach the port and markets.”
The expressway improvements bring four lanes to a particularly congested part of the highway, a flyover to the Pakowhai Rd/Links Rd roundabout enabling faster and safer travel between Napier and Hastings, and better access to the airport and Napier Port.
He said the expressway “becomes a serious bottleneck at times”, and the vulnerability of the road to Wairoa was shown when the Waikare bridge was destroyed in Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.
Lengthy detours via the central North Island were needed for three months before the first temporary bridge was opened.
“Along with a new bridge, the road will be realigned to make it less prone to slip disruption,” Murray said.
“It’s been a rough few years following the pandemic and then the cyclone,” he said. “We’re very happy to have these projects on the way.”
NZTA says tenders for the Waikare project design and construct contract, including a 4km deviation and a two-lane, 160-metre bridge over the Waikare Gorge, close in December.
It says that following appointment of a contractor, it will be able to confirm a start date for construction.
“This will be next year, pending property acquisition,” the NZTA told Hawke’s Bay Today, reaffirming construction will take about four years.
The realignment was first mooted over 20 years ago.
But a preferred route, bypassing the township of Putorino and the nearby gorge bridge site (with a now-temporary bridge in place) was not approved until 2019, propelled by the adoption two years earlier of the Tairāwhiti Programme Business Case.
NZTA expects minimal disruption during the four years of construction, because most of the project takes place off the existing highway.
Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier, and has been a journalist for more than 50 years, covering most aspects of local and regional news and sports.
