Many state highways around the upper North Island were significantly damaged by weather events in early 2023. NZTA is committed to reconnecting people and communities.
Across the motu, Auckland, Northland, Waikato, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay regions and Tararua district suffered extensive and devasting damage from the early 2023 weather events; Cyclone Gabrielle, the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Hale. Following these events, a significant period of recovery took place, and most of these regions are still in the Recovery phase (returning transport networks to pre-event condition).
While NZTA prepares for significant weather events, and has resources in place to respond quickly, the sheer scale and complexity of the damage from these events means the Recovery phase will take time.
The immediate focus was on restoring access which is vital for communities, and this was completed in mid-2023 Recovery work is ongoing, across all regions, until the state highway network returns to how it was before the weather events. We expect this to be complete by early 2026.
As a result of the 2023 weather events, NZTA completed Resilience Strategic Response business cases for Whangārei to Dome Valley, Coromandel Hauraki, Tairāwhiti Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay. These identified short-, medium- and long-term prevention-based interventions to maintain and improve the resilience of the state highway network.
This was a collaborative effort with local government, iwi, suppliers and central government partners providing input such as how people use the transport network, both state highways and connections into local roads, what they need from it, and how it can be future-proofed.
For the East Coast (Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay), NZTA partnered with KiwiRail, Downer, Fulton Hogan and Higgins to form Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC). TREC oversees the Recovery and ongoing maintenance of the state highway and rail networks across the region.
Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC)
Following Board approval for these business cases, NZTA worked with the Ministry of Transport and the Treasury to prioritise the various programmes of work and confirm funding for these.
At Budget 2024 it was confirmed that $609.25 million of direct Crown funding would be provided to complete the state highway Recovery. This funding enables NZTA and its partners to return the state highway network back to pre-event conditions by June 2026.
NZ Recovery programme status map - Northland [PDF, 4 MB]
NZ Recovery programme status map - Coromandel [PDF, 768 KB]
Budget 2024 State Highway recovery map - East Coast [PDF, 3.8 MB]
No funding was available for specific improvement projects as part of Budget 2024. All interventions identified in the Resilient Strategic Responses and any subsequent business cases have been incorporated into the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP).
The SHIP is a proposed programme of work for the state highway network to both deliver on the Government’s strategic objectives and meet the needs of New Zealanders. Once the Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 (GPS) is confirmed, NZTA will be able to confirm which projects across the country are funded for the next three years (2024-27). However, like all projects submitted under the SHIP, these Rebuild projects will need to compete for funding against other NLTF funding priorities, meaning their progression is not guaranteed.
