A roading campaigner says safety improvements on State Highway 2 have done their job and it’s time to rethink the speed limit, while the Government is asking for public submissions on whether to raise the speed limit from Te Puna to Katikati from 80km/h to 100km/h. 

National MP for Bay of Plenty Tom Rutherford said, “Doing this will push economic growth with trucks and tradies getting to more jobs faster.” 

The speed limit for State Highway 2 was changed after a 2019 public consultation by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), when there was a significant public push to make the highway safer, including a public protest, NZTA media manager Natasha Utting said in an email. 

“In December 2020, the speed was lowered from 100km/h to 80km/h between Katikati and Te Puna as it was one of the highest-risk roads in the country.” 

“This stretch of SH2 has undergone safety improvements since then, including road widening, wide centre lines, intersection improvements and median and side barrier sections,” Utting said. 

In the 10 years before the speed reduction, 18 fatal crashes and 46 serious injury crashes occurred, according to NZTA. 

State Highway 2 was once a rural road that passed through a few settlements and had since developed into a commuter and freight route, Utting said. 

“This increasingly busy road currently has around 15,000 vehicles travelling through Katikati and increasing to more than 20,000 vehicles a day further east to Te Puna, with many intersections and driveways with direct access on to SH2.” 

The existing SH2, through Bethlehem, will stop functioning as a state highway when Takitimu North Link opens and will become a local road through the revocation process. 

Fix the Bloody Road campaigner Andrew Hollis said he would like to see a return to the previous speed limit because the variable speed limits could be a distraction. 

“With the many different speed zones, it takes a lot of time to think about what speed we ought to be doing in case of ticketing rather than focusing on driving,” Hollis said. 

“On the open road, it changes from 80 to 90 to 100 [km/h] on the way to Auckland, at least three different speeds.” 

Fix the Bloody Road campaigner Andrew Hollis believes the safety improvements have done their job and it is time to rethink the speed limits. Photo / NZME 

He said it used to be simple when monitoring speed: at the edge of a city it was a 70km/h speed limit; on the open road it was 100km/h; and in town it was 50km/h. 

Hollis said his group had analysed many crashes occurring on that road before the improvements and in their view tired drivers, not speeding, caused many of the fatalities. 

He said the safety improvements had done their job and it was time to rethink the speed limits. 

“It’s about the freedom to get in our vehicle and move from point A to point B,” Hollis said. 

Western Bay of Plenty resident Rodney Joyce said he supported the speed limit increase. 

“Social media commentary today shows a split between those who have grown to like the 80km/h [speed] limit, those that want it back to 100km/h and a few suggesting a compromise of 90km/h,” Joyce said. 

“I’d say most would want to see it go back to 100km/h, but let’s see what consultation turns up.” 

The consultation period closes on March 13. 

More information here.