As part of the Government’s New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Waka Kotahi is working to protect the route for Takitimu North Link Stage Two - a proposed new 7km four-lane state highway between Te Puna (near Loop Road) and Ōmokoroa, tying into the existing State Highway 2 (SH2) south of the Waipapa Stream bridge.
About the proposed design
The Stage Two (Te Puna to Ōmokoroa) project is an extension of Stage One between Tauranga and Te Puna. It will include:
- a new 7km four-lane highway with median and side barriers
- 7km of off-road separated shared path along the entire length of the new highway
- two lanes will potentially be managed lanes to prioritise public transport and vehicles carrying multiple passengers and/or freight vehicles
- overbridge for local traffic at Plummers Point Road/Barrett Road
- overbridge for local traffic at Snodgrass Road/Te Puna Quarry Road
- grade separated interchange at SH2 / Ōmokoroa Road
- connection to the Takitimu North Link Stage One (currently in construction)
- existing SH2 highway retained as a local road
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View the draft proposed alignment plan for Takitimu North Link Stage Two: We welcome any comment or feedback on the project and encourage you to share this information with people who may be interested. Please send feedback or requests for more information by completing the feedback form or emailing bopprojects@nzta.govt.nz. Takitimu North Link Stage Two information booklet – July 2023 [PDF, 8.2 MB] During July and August 2023 we carried out public engagement on the draft design. |
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Benefits of the Takitimu North Link project
- improve safety to reduce deaths and serious injuries
- improve access with more reliable travel times for local people and regional freight to the Port of Tauranga from Western Bay of Plenty and Coromandel
- support greater travel choice through public transport prioritisation and shared path which will improve mode shift options
- support economic development and population growth in the Western Bay of Plenty in line with the Urban Form and Transport Initiative
- improve resilience to the road network
Current programme
In 2022 we undertook a thorough review and update of previous assessments and plans to address the requirements of the National Policy Statement – Freshwater Management 2020 (as updated in December 2022) and the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020. As part of this work additional technical assessments were also carried out.
During March and April 2023 additional geotechnical testing was carried out to confirm the suitability of soils in locations where additional bridge structures and stormwater treatments will be located. Further ecological, site contamination and engineering investigations are ongoing.
We have updated all affected landowners about impacts to property.
We are engaging with local hapū, with ongoing input into historical and environmental aspects of the project, as well as a view to incorporating cultural aspects into the project design.
Through this process we have refined an emerging preferred alignment, and further investigations are progressing, focussed on this alignment.
View the proposed alignment plan for Takitimu North Link Stage Two:
Find out what is happening on Takitimu North Link Stage One
Find out what is happening on SH2 Waihī to Ōmokoroa
Next steps
We expect to lodge designation and resource consents with Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council in the first half of 2024. These applications will be publicly notified and submissions called for – we will publicise these dates once they are confirmed.
Prior to lodgement, we welcome any comment or feedback on the project, and encourage you to share this information with people who may be interested.
Please send feedback or requests for more information by emailing bopprojects@nzta.govt.nz.
Approval of the designation and resource consents will protect the route and provide certainty that the project can be constructed when funding becomes available. Route protection is intended to protect the land from any development which could potentially make construction of the project more difficult in the future. It does not finalise exact details of where any future road would be built but sets out the footprint of the land required to build it. Further work beyond route protection, including construction, is not currently funded.
