AA urges public to have say on highway safety barriers planned between Whanganui and Bulls

Information sessions will be held in Whanganui and Bulls about planned changes to State Highway 3. Photo / Bevan Conley

The Automobile Association is encouraging people to attend information sessions on the planned installation of safety barriers on State Highway 3 between Whanganui and Bulls.

Next month work will begin on installing up to 6km of flexible wire median barriers that New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi says will improve safety. Other safety measures will include the installation of turnaround facilities on the highway.

The AA’s Whanganui district council chairman Russell Cameron said SH3 was an important link for motorists and freight.

Major safety works had the potential to disrupt traffic on this critical route and people should take advantage of two information sessions being hosted by NZTA to understand how the work and changes might affect them.

“SH3 is the arterial route between Whanganui and Taranaki, which also carries huge volumes of traffic destined for and coming out of Wellington,” Cameron said.

“It is particularly important for freight heading in and out of Taranaki, as there is no rail to speak of north of Whanganui, that any significant work carried out on the highway is designed to improve traffic flow as well as safety, to accommodate all traffic and growth.”

Between 2019 and 2023, there were 159 crashes on SH3 between Whanganui and Bulls, which resulted in seven people dying and 19 being seriously injured. Waka Kotahi’s regional manager of infrastructure delivery Rob Partridge said median barriers virtually eliminated head-on crashes and reduced deaths and serious injuries from run-off-road crashes by about 40-50 per cent.

“The flexible barriers will deliver immediate safety benefits while maintaining efficient travel between Whanganui and Bulls,” Partridge said.

“The exact lengths of these stretches of median barrier are to be confirmed but they will be installed at locations where the road is already wide enough to support the barrier.”

Waka Kotahi will host drop-in information sessions at the pioneer room, Whanganui War Memorial Centre, on Tuesday, February 20, 4-7pm; and at Te Matapihi in Bulls on Thursday, February 22, 4-7pm.