Crews working on New Plymouth to Hāwera safety improvements will be installing flexible median barriers near Midhirst this week.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is advising road users to anticipate possible delays of between 5 and 10 minutes near the intersection with Radnor Road and SH3. Both lanes of the state highway will be open but under a temporary speed restriction.
The work at Midhirst should be complete before Easter when the temporary speed limit will be lifted ahead of the long weekend.
Contractors will then start work near Norfolk Road, south of Inglewood, on the installation of 1.4km of flexible median barriers in the week after Easter.
The next site scheduled for barrier installation is a 680m section of SH3 near the intersection with Thomason Road, north of Egmont Village. Temporary speed limits will also be in place at the Norfolk Road and Thomason Road sites when crews are there.
Later in the year, work will resume on the section of highway from Junction St to Burgess Hill, New Plymouth. This section of the project includes construction of a roundabout at the Mangorei Road intersection and an intersection speed zone at Junction St, along with the future installation of flexible median barriers.
While this 3.3km section has experienced some delays associated with property acquisition and consenting, the project has been able to bring forward other sites – delivering 3km of flexible median barriers to date, at Normanby and near York Road, north of Midhirst – with a further 2.6km due to be installed by mid-year.
Here is a map showing planned 2024 works including median barrier and wide centreline locations and site lengths:
SH3 New Plymouth to Hāwera safety improvements work locations during 2024 – March 2024 [PDF, 509 KB]
Design of a future roundabout at Egmont Village is also underway.
Over the next five to six years, the New Plymouth to Hāwera Safety Improvements Project aims to install more than 40km of safety improvements, including flexible median barriers, roundabouts, turning facilities, wide centrelines and intersection speed zones.
"Our goal is to significantly increase safety for everyone living, working and travelling along this route," says Project Manager Sree Nutulapati.
“SH3 between New Plymouth and Hawera is considered a high risk rural road. In the five year period from 2019 to 2023, there were 11 deaths and 47 serious-injuries due to crashes on this section of the highway.”
The New Plymouth to Hāwera project also encompasses SH3A where plans are being drawn up to widen the centreline, creating more distance between passing vehicles.
