Consultation now open for proposed 110 km/h speed limit on Northern Motorway from Orewa to Warkworth

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is proposing new speed limits on Auckland’s SH1 Northern Gateway Toll Road and Ara Tūhono - Pūhoi to Warkworth Motorway.

These roads are part of Auckland’s Northern Motorway (SH1) between Orewa and Warkworth. Connecting at the Johnstones Hill Tunnels, they provide an important connection between Auckland and Northland.

These sections of motorway currently have a speed limit of 100km/h and consultation is now open for our proposal to increase this speed limit to 110km/h.

Steve Mutton NZTA Director Regional Relationships says that NZTA is committed to delivering state highways to help people and freight move quickly and safely.

“These sections of motorway are designed and constructed to a high safety standard which means we can consider increasing the speed limit.

“Safety features include 2-lanes in each direction to provide safe passing opportunities, physical separation between opposing lanes to prevent head-on crashes, and a mostly straight, wide alignment” says Mr Mutton.

While NZTA is consulting on speed limits for these two sections of State Highway 1, there are other sections of this motorway that are not being consulted on. This includes:

• Johnstones Hill Tunnels - while these tunnels are also built to high safety standards, the enclosed environment of tunnels creates a different safety risk to that of the surrounding motorway. The speed limit on SH1 through the Johnstones Hill Tunnels is 80km/h and at this stage there are no plans to review and/or change this speed limit.
• SH1 south of the Northern Gateway Toll Road currently operates with a permanent speed limit of 100km/h through to the Auckland Harbour Bridge and there are no plans to review that speed limit.

To find out more and provide feedback on the proposed speed limit increases, head to nzta.govt.nz/sh1-northakl-110

Consultation on raising the speed limits for the Northern Gateway Toll Road and Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway from 100km/h to 110km/h will last four weeks, beginning on 3 September 2024 and closing on 1 October 2024.

NZTA will consider all feedback received during the consultation process before recommending a new speed limit, which will be reviewed alongside our technical and safety assessments.

NZTA then provides a recommendation to the Director of Land Transport. The speed limit will remain at 100km/h until this process is complete.