From 1 August the entire Hawke’s Bay Expressway will become known as SH2 and the former SH2 between Napier and Hastings (also known as the Coastal Route) will become SH51.
The Hawke’s Bay Expressway was constructed in approximately seven sections over 43 years, and these sections are referred to separately with different State Highway numbers, despite the Expressway being one length of road. This makes for a confusing customer experience and the renumbering will better reflect the HB Expressway as the spine of the Hawke’s Bay roading network.
The opportunity to renumber the State highways has arisen through the exchange of SH2 Meeanee Quay and Pandora Road becoming a local road under Napier City Council’s authority, and Prebensen Drive becoming a State highway under the Transport Agency’s authority.
From 1 August, the entire Hawke’s Bay Expressway will become known as SH2 and the former SH2 between Napier and Hastings (also known as the Coastal Route) will become SH51. Another noteworthy change is that Taradale Road, Hyderabad Road and Georges Drive will become SH51 and Prebensen Drive will be SH50.
The below maps show the current highway numbers, and the route of the new highway numbers that will take effect from 1 August 2019.
The new numbers for the State Highway system will take effect from 1 August 2019. Signs will be changed between August and October 2019.
New addresses for some State Highway 51 residents and businesses
There are currently two sections of State Highway between Awatoto and Clive, where affected property owners will need to change their address.
There are a small number of people and businesses (just over 120), who will be affected with an address change. Their address will change from State Highway 2 to State Highway 51.
These people will receive a letter from the NZ Transport Agency regarding the change of address process. The map below highlights the area where addresses will be changed. If you haven’t received anything in your mailbox, please contact us to let us know.
NZ Post will change all the affected postal addresses in their database system. There will be no need for redirections. However the occupiers/landowners will need to update any legal documentation, as well as informing friends and family who send them mail, or if they have their address saved on an online site (such as Trade Me). Once the updates are live in NZ Post’s system, anyone will be able to search for the new address using the online postcode finder.
CloseBecause the Expressway was built in sections over 43 years, it couldn’t become State Highway 2 until it was complete. Now that the Expressway is complete, and with the introduction of Prebensen Drive into the State highway system, the numbering can be changed to provide a more cohesive connection between the different highway routes.
CloseThe current numbering is confusing — particularly to people unfamiliar with Hawke’s Bay roads. The renumbering will better reflect the Hawke’s Bay Expressway as the ‘spine’ of our road network and better enable road users to know which highway they need to be on to reach their destination.
CloseThe old SH2 will become SH51 and will still be an alternative State Highway to travel on.
CloseThe Expressway has always been the main route, and the renumbering will not affect current truck patterns and roading movements.
CloseThe ‘After’ map is demonstrating the connection of SH50 from Prebensen Drive to Links Road, however the State highway number for the Expressway will be known as SH2 by the public.
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