Work to make SH1 between Cambridge and Piarere safer gets underway next week (19 March).
The safety improvements include adding roadside safety barriers in high-risk areas to stop vehicles running off the road and a wide centreline to keep vehicles apart. Minor improvements will also be made to some intersections along the route.
NZ Transport Agency Regional System Manager Karen Boyt says the safety improvements will help prevent people being killed or seriously injured in crashes on the route.
“This road is currently the main link between Auckland and Tauranga and Hamilton and Tauranga but too many people are losing their lives on the road,” Ms Boyt says.
“Between January 2005 and December 2014 nine people died and 29 were seriously injured on this stretch of the road. Safety barriers and wide centrelines are relatively easy to install but can be the difference between life and death if someone makes a mistake on the road.”
The short-term safety improvements will be carried out by Splice Construction on behalf of the Transport Agency and are expected to be completed by the end of summer 2019. A map of the planned safety improvements is available at www.nzta.govt.nz/c2p(external link).
The project is part of the government’s $600m Safe Roads and Roadsides programme underway to reduce deaths and seriously injuries on NZ rural state highways
