As part of the introduction of the new rule, roads within five categories of roads will be required to reverse to their previous speed in a one-off ‘transition’ exercise in 2025, if they were subject to speed reviews after 1 January 2020 and have had their original higher speed limit reduced. Roads that meet this requirement are known as ‘specified roads’ within Section 11 Transitional arrangements of the rule. These reversals are required to be implemented by 1 July 2025.
For NZTA, this includes a range of sections of state highways within four of these classes – urban connectors, transit corridors, rural connectors, and interregional connectors (see below). All other types of classes of state highway remain unchanged.
View the full list of sections of state highways that will be automatically reversed by 1 July 2025 (note those still subject to final decisions pending upcoming consultation are marked with a star (*).
Where speed limits have been lowered on sections of state highways that are classified as urban connectors, these sections will automatically reverse back to their original higher speed limit by 1 July 2025. Urban connector sections of state highways generally have fewer houses and businesses and are designed to move people and goods quickly and efficiently.
There is one exception to these reversals, where reversing the speed limit would be inappropriate due to changes in the surrounding environment, such as new residential development.
See the full list of state highway urban connectors managed by NZTA that are set to reverse by 1 July 2025 in the PDF list above.
CloseWhere speed limits have been lowered on sections of either local roads or state highways that are classified transit corridors, these sections will automatically reverse back to their original higher speed limit by 1 July 2025. Transit corridors are urban motorways and corridors that provide for movement of people and goods within an urban environment.
There is one exception to these reversals, where reversing the speed limit would be inappropriate due to changes in the surrounding environment, such as new residential development.
See the full list of transit corridors managed by NZTA that are set to reverse by 1 July 2025 in the PDF list above.
CloseWhere speed limits have been lowered on sections of state highways that are classified as rural connectors, these sections will automatically reverse back to their original higher speed limit by 1 July 2025. Rural connector sections of state highways provide a link between rural roads and interregional connector state highways. Many have more residential activity or multiple driveway or access points than the adjoining inter-regional connector. Typically, these types of state highways would originally have been set with 100km/h speed limits, however some sections were lowered because of increasing death and serious injury rates, deteriorating road or environmental conditions, or the way the road was used.
The new Rule allows NZTA to publicly consult on the required reversals for two categories of specified roads (rural connectors and interregional connectors), to see if there is local road user, council, community and iwi support to retain some specific locations at their lowered speeds.
See the full list of state highway rural connectors managed by NZTA that are set to reverse by 1 July 2025 in the PDF list above. The sub-set of rural connectors within this list that are still to be consulted on, and are therefore still subject to final decisions about whether they are reversing or not, are marked with a star (*). This list will be updated after the consultation.
CloseSpeed limits on interregional connector sections of state highways that have been lowered since 1 January 2020 will also automatically reverse by 1 July 2025 unless NZTA can show through a public consultation that there is local road user, council, community and iwi support to retain these lower speed limits on all or part of the route.
Interregional connectors are state highways that move people and goods over long distances between regions efficiently. These highways run mostly through farmland and natural areas with low levels of roadside activity. Typically, these state highways would originally have been set with 100km/h speed limits, however sections of some high-risk interregional connectors were lowered either because of increasing death and serious injury rates, deteriorating road or environmental conditions, or the way the road was used.
See the full list of state highway interregional connectors managed by NZTA that are set to reverse by 1 July 2025 in the PDF list above. The sub-set of interregional connectors within this list that are still to be consulted on, and are therefore still subject to final decisions about whether they are reversing or not, are marked with a star (*). This list will be updated after the consultation.
CloseIn addition to the four specified road categories that include state highways managed by NZTA, one other type of specified roads is also subject to reversals in 2025. These are ‘local streets’ mostly managed by local councils, with permanent 30km/h speed limits, where one of the reasons for reducing the speed limit was because there is a school in the area (the road outside the school gate will become a variable speed limit).
The rule contains more information about the requirements for these local streets to reverse.
Setting of Speed Limits Rule - Requirements for council managed local streets
CloseUnder the new Rule, speed limits on rural and interregional connector sections of state highways that have been lowered since 1 January 2020 will automatically reverse by 1 July 2025 unless NZTA can show through a public consultation that there is local support to retain any of those lower speed limits on all or part of a route.
In total, approximately 38 state highway locations managed by NZTA are required to automatically reverse, and an additional 49 were consulted on.
Consultation took place from 30 January – 13 March 2025 to understand if local road users, councils, communities and iwi support keeping any or part of these specific state highway locations at their current speed limits, rather than seeing them automatically reverse.
NZTA would like to thank people for providing feedback during this consultation process. We are currently assessing all feedback to understand support levels for reversing speed limits to their previous higher speed limit or retaining the current lower speed limits. We will share the outcome of this consultation in May 2025 and respond to all submitters with the consultation outcome.
Note: Feedback on other corridors in your region can be sent via email and will be considered as part of future speed reviews.
Email: speedmanagement@nzta.govt.nz
Learn more about the Speed Rule and Section 11 Transitional arrangements in the rule:
