Two Months Of Travel Delays For Taranaki Highway Work

Thursday, 13 March 2025, 7:41 am
Article: Craig Ashworth - Local Democracy Reporting

Womad festival-goers returning north next Monday may be forced to take a break at Mt Messenger, as will other travellers between Taranaki and the King Country for the next eight weeks.

Stop-go controls will delay drivers up to 15 minutes until May 13 on State Highway 3 with delays of up to 30 minutes from March 27 to April 8 so trees can be cut down.

Waka Kotahi – the NZ Transport Agency – advised travellers to allow for the trip to take extra time and drive to the conditions on the sole highway connecting Taranaki to Waikato on to Auckland.

Crews would be onsite from 6am to 6pm Monday to Saturday with one lane open at all times on Te Ara o Te Ata – the Mt Messenger Bypass Project – about an hour north of New Plymouth.

Temporary speed limits would be in place during those working hours with the 100km/hour limit restored at other times.

Waka Kotahi said the travel delays would allow ground to be stabilised and vegetation cleared for the contentious diversion, which is being carved through forest and wetland in a valley parallel to the existing highway.

Travel will also be slowed by other state Highway 3 improvements north of New Plymouth: a major roundabout build at Waitara Road, a second coat seal of a newly-rebuilt section at Onaero and a rebuild of the highway near Pilot Road at Tongapōrutu.

This month the High Court ruled as unlawful a Department of Conservation permit allowing Waka Kotahi to kill protected species - including kiwi and long-tailed bats.

The High Court found permission granted under Section 53 of the Wildlife Act was unlawful because the killing would occur during the construction of a road.

The Environmental Law Initiative sought a judicial review arguing the Wildlife Act was to keep protected species from harm - not allow them to be killed.

Clearance and construction continued because ministerial permission to kill wildlife had instead since been granted under Section 71 of the Wildlife Act, although that is now being challenged by Ngā Hapū o Poutama.

The conservation department and the transport agency said they would review how they managed their Wildlife Act responsibilities.

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