Manawatū-Tararua Highway: Opening date for new Te Ahu a Turanga less than two weeks away

The four-lane highway snakes through hills and between wind turbines. Photo / RNZ

Traffic is expected to start rolling on the new Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū Tararua Highway in less than two weeks’ time.

National highways management agency NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) confirmed on Thursday the official opening of the 11.5km highway across the southern Ruahine Range will take place on June 7, and it is hoped it will be open to traffic in the week starting the following week.

The highway, which will be part of State Highway 3, between Woodville and Ashhurst, has been in the design and making since the permanent closure of the Manawatū Gorge route in April 2017, following the latest of the slips and rock falls that had shut the route many times over the years.

The Manawatū-Tararua Highway is set to open in the next two weeks. Photo / NZTA

With the narrow Saddle Rd becoming the main, temporary, alternative route, a new pathway, with six bridges, including two over 300m long, was established and construction started in 2021.

Councillors and media have already been taken across the new route.

The total cost, including a shared cycle and walking pathway, is put at $824.1 million.

The highway is to be officially opened by Minister of Transport, Chris Bishop.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.