Better, safer access to Tatapouri Beach north of Gisborne on its way

Work gets underway at the beginning of March on a range of safety improvements at Tatapouri Beach on State Highway 35.

Tatapouri Beach north of Gisborne is popular with locals and tourists and part of the safety work will include a new right-turn bay for people to better access the beach from the highway.

Other work will include shoulder widening, new signage, resurfacing and line marking.

Crews will begin work at the site on Monday 4 March. The work is scheduled to take 5 weeks to complete.

To minimise the delays, crews will be working 7 days a week, between 6am and 7pm.

During construction, there will be a mix of traffic management in place:

• Works will start with a week of enabling works. There will be two lanes of traffic, as per normal, however a reduced speed limit will be in place around the clock.
• For the following 3 weeks, stop/go traffic management will be in place through the worksite, with a reduced speed limit in place. When the worksite isn’t active, two lanes of traffic will be open.
• In the final week of work, there will once again be two lanes of traffic, but at the same reduced speed. During this week, there’ll be one day of stop/go traffic management for line marking. 

In December, a rock retaining wall was built slightly further south at the top of Tatapouri Hill.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Regional Manager of Infrastructure Delivery Rob Partridge says currently waiting on the highway to turn right to access local businesses or the beach carpark, is dangerous.

“Given the beach access is just around the bend, after coming downhill, waiting in the lane can be a safety issue.

“We know the value of this area and the beach access to the people of Tairāwhiti and to tourists. Making it safer to visit and enjoy the area is incredibly important,” says Mr Partridge.