Widening the Tahaenui Bridge is great news for the district says Wairoa Mayor Craig Little.

The single lane bridge is the last one-way bridge on SH 2 between Napier and Gisborne, with the widening part of a $14.2m NZ Upgrade Programme investment into Hawkes Bay roads.

Mr Little praised the work of NZTA saying the roading organisation had done a lot of behind the scenes work to have the bridge widening included in the programme.

“Traffic numbers on this road have increased dramatically over the last year or so and this single lane bridge has been a bottleneck and major safety concern for decades.

“Widening the bridge is good news for our local people and all road users.”

The road upgrades form part of a $12bn NZ Upgrade Programme announced by the Government last month, with $300m allocated for capital projects in regional New Zealand.

A total of $88.25m has been invested in a major road investment plan, with $62m devoted to seven projects across the North Island.

Widening the bridge to two-way travel aims to improve the roading network access and efficiency for those travelling between Gisborne and Hawke's Bay.

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced capital investments in land, air and sea assets across the country.

"I spend a lot of time in the regions and one bugbear I consistently hear about is roads," he said.

"Officials from the Provincial Development Unit and the New Zealand Transport Agency have worked together to identify which roading improvements are ready to go but required funding.

"This investment is expected to contribute to regional economic development while providing safer roads, safer bridges, and easier to access stopping points."

Construction is due to get underway on some projects by the end of August.

2 March 2020

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