We want everyone who uses our roads in Northland and Auckland to get where they’re going safely. To save lives and prevent serious injuries, we have reviewed speed limits in the region.
As a road controlling authority, we have a responsibility to set safe and appropriate speed limits to maintain the state highway network. We’ve reviewed speed limits on state highways in Northland and north Auckland as part of our national speed management programme and plan to implement changes to short sections of the following state highways:
Speed limit changes are targeted to short sections through townships and close to schools and marae, rather than the entire stretch of state highway.
Approved sections of state highway include 54 new permanent speed limit changes and new electronic (variable speed limit) signs across 34 schools. Changes also affect speed limits alongside 7 marae.
We are using a phased approach to implement approved speed limit changes, starting with SH1 Pukenui to Kaitaia which was implemented on 4 March 2024, and SH15 Kaikohe to Otaika, implemented on 13 May 2024. The next changes are on small sections of SH11 between Kawakawa and Paihia and SH1 between Kawakawa and Whangārei effective from 24 June 2024.
The government is working on new speed limit rules that will provide direction for future work. Appropriate consideration has been taken to ensure speed changes are consistent with the draft rule, currently out for consultation. The Northland changes focus on short sections of state highway through townships and schools and involved extensive community engagement and input.
All decisions have been informed by detailed technical assessments to check the road environment, layout and use, and by extensive consultation with the community, iwi / hapu partners, and stakeholders to provide valuable information about how communities use our roads.
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to input into our speed review process. We received 653 submissions during consultation on proposed speed limit changes from 17 May to 14 June 2022, with feedback outlined in our consultation summary.
Northland and north Auckland speed reviews consultation summary 2023 [PDF, 2.4 MB]
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