You may have already heard the news that Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is raising the speed limit on the SH1 Waikato Expressway between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. From 13 July, this 78km section of the expressway will have a speed limit of 110kph, adding to the existing 110kph stretch between Tamahere and Cambridge.

Naturally, the 78km includes the new 22km section of expressway that bypasses Hamilton – expected to open mid-July – and means that only the 20km or so north to Auckland’s southern motorway at Bombay remains at 100kph.

New Zealand has become more accustomed to having speed limits reduced than increased. Speed is often cited as high on the list of causes of road accidents and fatalities. The speed limit increase on the Waikato Expressway proves precisely the opposite. Often, the condition and fitness of many of the nation’s roads to meet the demands of modern traffic isn’t cited. And the Waikato Expressway proves that point too.

In the press release released by Waka Kotahi earlier this week, David Speirs, director of regional relationships, is quoted as saying: “This road has been selected to have its speed limit increased because of its design and safety features. This is one of the country’s best roads.”

He continues: “The speed limit is being increased on the Waikato Expressway because it is a modern road that can support higher travel speeds without compromising safety. The features making it safer for travelling at higher speeds include having at least two lanes in each direction, a central median barrier and no significant curves.”

I agree with David here. The Waikato Expressway is one of the country’s best roads. It is ‘modern’; it has been designed properly.

Further reading reveals that it is one of the country’s safest stretches of road, with a far lower crash and casualty rate than other state highways. As David said: two dedicated lanes each way, a division between them, and the road as straight as can be. I’ll add a good surface, clear road markings, proper interchanges, decent hard shoulder, and good drainage.

Truly, it’s a good stretch of road, and I look forward to driving the full distance – at 110kph – once the Hamilton section is open. But every time I do, the problem is that it’ll make it even more obvious how abysmal the rest of the nation’s primary state highways are.

In the July 2022 issue of New Zealand Trucking magazine, I commented in my editorial that Waka Kotahi needs to “get on with the job of creating a national roading infrastructure suitable for the demands of today’s freight and traffic”. The Waikato Expressway proves it can be done; it shows how it should be done. More so, it demonstrates that investment in quality road design and engineering is the only way to ‘make roads safer’ and reduce crashes and fatalities.

As morbid and crass as it sounds, it will be the crash and fatality statistics over the next few years, comparing this extended 110kph stretch to any piece of road that’s been reduced to 80kph in recent times, which will tell the true story.

I know which I think will be the more effective, ‘safer’ approach.

Take care out there,

Gavin Myers
Editor