The notorious road to Hamilton Airport is being changed in a bid to make it safer.  

State Highway 3 between the airport and Ohaupo is the only road in the country where there are passing lanes for each direction, side by side.

It's hoped removing a passing lane and installing a medium barrier on the busy Hamilton road will reduce the number of serious crashes in the area.

NZTA Highway Manager Kaye Clark said they did a similar thing closer to Te Awamutu and it's been a great success, preventing three crashes already.

"There's been a lot of crashes in that area over the last five years we've had fifteen and two of those were very serious."