Funding approved to tackle SH1 black spot along edge of Lake Taupō

A krill oil and milk powder spill in November 2022 is among the many incidents at Bulli Point on SH1. Photo / Waikato Regional Council

Budget 2023 includes about $4 million to fix two trouble spots near Bulli Pt, in a bid to improve safety along the notorious stretch of State Highway 1.

It was one of 100 “resilience projects” that collectively received $279m in the Budget.

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency media manager Natasha Utting said the funding would be used for two sites on the Taupō side of Bulli Pt, just before the notorious 25km/h corner.

The retaining walls would help deal with repeated underslips and erosion under the road surface, at an estimated cost of $2m for each site.

Transport Minister Michael Wood said the projects in the Budget could begin immediately.

Wood said the improvements were particularly important to maintain highway safety in the wake of recent weather events like Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The severe weather events of this year have highlighted how crucial it is to invest in early preventative works to protect our transport network,” he said.

“We need to ensure that communities will stay connected as we see severe weather events become more common and damaging.”

Utting said the work would not be under way quickly and the timing of it would confirmed over the next few months.

The area is a known black spot for accidents, the most recent major accident occurring in November 2022, when a truck crashed off the road, spilling its load of krill oil and meat into Lake Taupō.

An overhanging cliff edge on the tight corner means trucks sometimes cross the centre line to navigate it.

While the recently-announced works do not solve this problem, they may pave the way for a long-term solution.

Plans for the work at the two sites were first requested by Waka Kotahi in 2018 as “future-proofing” for a future project to reduce the curve on the tight bend, either by rerouting SH1 over the top of the cliffs, or reducing and restructuring the cliffs into a stepped configuration to give more space for the road.

While neither of these approaches has been announced as yet, the latest works may mean the long-awaited curve easing project is one step closer to reality.