SH1 between Ātiamuri Bridge and Wairakei roundabout was closed from 16 September until 4 October 2024, between the hours of 8am - 6pm, Monday to Saturday. The road was open overnight 6pm - 8am and on most Sundays.
From 5am Monday 3 March, SH1 will be closed from SH1/SH30 intersection, to the SH1/SH5 intersection (Wairakei Roundabout).
Work will take approximately 5 weeks to complete (weather permitting).
All north and south bound vehicles will be detoured 24/7. The detour for light vehicles (i.e. all vehicles you can drive on a Class 1 licence) is via SH30, SH32 and Poihipi Road to Wairakei Drive and vice versa.
Heavy vehicles detour - northbound and southbound via SH5 Rotorua.
View larger map of SH1 Ātiamuri closure detour map [PDF, 290 KB]
People who live on this section will be able to travel through the hard closure points, with a resident access card. However, we strongly advise residents to use the detour routes as there will be six separate sites of road maintenance within the closure. Each worksite will have its own traffic management operation when construction is underway and significant delays will occur.
Additional signage will be placed at the detour points advising that businesses within the closure are still open.
Final resurfacing under night closures is currently scheduled for November 2025.
NZTA started work on SH1 between Ātiamuri and Wairakei as part of a safety improvement project being delivered by the contractor Higgins. This project started in mid-2022 and included road widening and the construction of flexible median safety barriers and roadside barriers north of Maroa Road to Tram Road (a 4.5km section). The second stage of this safety project included road widening and barrier installation for a 6.9km long section nearby from the Waikato River bridge south to Thorpe Road.
This safety work was already ongoing when the T2W project was started by contractor Downer.
Initially it was planned to have the full closure of the section between Ātiamuri and Wairakei for the T2W maintenance work in November 2024, but this was shifted to March 2025 for scheduling reasons – we needed to accommodate the busy holiday period and the popular Taupō Ironman 70.3 World Championship event. The change in schedule resulted in us doing the maintenance work required on the Eastern Taupō Arterial which was able to be without disruption to the Ironman event.
Scheduling has always been done with the goal of causing the least disruption possible – while acknowledging that some disruption is unavoidable.
We’d like to thank and acknowledge everyone who lives, works and plays down this section. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We know the disruption is frustrating, but it’ll be made worthwhile with a better quality road that has less work on it in the future.
