Next steps for state highway speed reversals programme

Community consultation has concluded, results have been analysed, and decisions have been made on speed limits for 49 state highway corridors, with most locations set to return to their previous higher speed limits.

On 29 January 2025, the Minister of Transport confirmed that 38 sections of state highway were subject to speed limit auto-reversal under the Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024, with a further 49 sections open to community consultation to confirm whether there was public support to retain current lower speed limits. 

Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) carried out six weeks of public consultation on these 49 sections of state highway between 30 January and 13 March, and the NZTA Board considered the consultation results earlier this month.

Over 21,500 people had their say, and based on their feedback, 43 locations will return to their previous higher speed limits, with six remaining at their current lower speed limits.

The six locations that demonstrated public acceptance, as required by the Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024, to keep their current lower speed limit were: 

• SH30 Rotorua South  
• SH5 Waipā State Mill Road 
• SH5 Waiotapu
• SH3 Whanganui 
• SH3 Palmerston Northeast to Whakarongo
• SH94 Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound.  

Local road users and communities in these six locations made their support for the current lower speed limits clear through consultation feedback:

• More than 50 per cent of respondents asked for the current lower speed limits to be retained for each of these locations. NZTA can now confirm that these lower speed limits will remain in place.  
• Public support levels for the other 43 sections of state highway did not reach a similar level of support, with less than 50 per cent of respondents wishing to retain lower speed limits. 
• NZTA will now add these 43 locations to its wider list of speed limit reversals and will begin notifying local communities in each of the locations about upcoming signage changes.

Implementation of the speed limit reversals will be rolled out in monthly tranches, with all reversals to be in effect by 1 July 2025, as required by the Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024. 

NZTA acknowledges there are a wide range of opinions on speed limits, and thanks everyone who took the time to share their views.  A summary of feedback received through the consultation process is available here:

Consultation summary report - Speed reversals [PDF, 1.9 MB]

This feedback will be valuable in shaping future speed reviews. This includes concerns voiced by local schools and marae. 

NZTA will now work with those schools and iwi, hapū, and marae to see what other safety interventions, such as Variable Speed Limits (VSLs), can be applied under the Rule to help them keep vulnerable users safe. 

VSLs are required by the Rule to be implemented outside all schools by 1 July 2026. 

Work is continuing separately on consultation on 16 of the 38 sections of state highways subject to auto-reversal requirements under the Rule, but where local communities have given strong feedback that they want to keep lower speeds.  
 
For consultation on these 16 sections of state highway, NZTA is required to follow different process under the Rule. This involves undertaking a full speed review, which includes looking at technical, safety, cost and economic data, alongside consultation feedback, before being able to confirm final speed limit outcomes.

Consultation on these 16 sections of state highway is open for six weeks, between 2 April and 14 May, and the results of this phase of work will be known in June.  

If the new speed reviews determine a lower speed should be confirmed, instead of the higher one set through the reversal process, this change will take place immediately after 1 July 2025.

More information about the sections of state highway currently under consultation can be found on the NZTA website:  

New consultation on urban connectors 

More details on the sections of state highway reversing to their previous higher limits is also available on the NZTA website can be found here: 

Speed reversals and consultation - transitional changes in 2024-25

Notes to editors:  

• The new Setting of Speed Limits Rule (the Rule) requires that a range of specified roads managed by NZTA and local council road controlling authorities (RCAs), where speed have been lowered since January 2020, must automatically reverse back to their previous higher speeds by 1 July 2025. 

• While NZTA has published a list of 89 road locations on state highways that are required to reverse, the Rule also allowed for the agency to consult on some state highways in two of the five categories (rural connectors and inter-regional connectors), before confirming its final list for implementation. 

• There are five categories of specified roads required to auto-reverse under the Section 11 Transitional provisions of the Rule. These categories are managed by both local government and NZTA. NZTA was the only road controlling authority (RCA) able to consult on retaining current lower speed limits on some state highways as part of these provisions in two of the five categories – rural connectors and interregionals.   

• All RCAs must confirm their lists to reverse to the Director of Land Transport in May 2025, for uploading to the National Speed Limits Register (NSLR). Implementation is required to take place by 1 July 2025.   

• An additional 16 locations included in NZTA’s list of specified roads are now going through full new speed reviews under different provisions of the rule. If the new speed reviews determine a lower speed should be confirmed instead of the higher one set through the reversal process, this change will take place immediately after 1 July 2025. The results of these speed reviews will be known in June 2025.