State highway maintenance involves the upkeep, renewal and operation of the state highway network. We maintain over 11,000 centreline kilometres (over 24,500 lane kilometres) of road, along with the wider road corridor and assets, ensuring the network is safe and accessible every day.
There are currently 23 core contracts across the country for state highway maintenance. These contracts provide the expected levels of service across all maintenance requirements for the state highways within the contract area.
We currently use three different contract types across the majority of our maintenance and operations requirements:
There are a number of other contracts for specific areas of the state highway network, such as the SH74 Lyttelton Tunnel in Christchurch.
From April 2026, NZTA will replace the Network Outcomes Contracts with Integrated Delivery Contracts, as part of the shift to the Integrated Delivery Model for road maintenance.
Managing the state highway network
To keep our roads safe and accessible, NZTA undertakes an annual programme of resurfacing and rebuilding across the state highway network each summer. The 2024/25 programme sees us renewing over 1800 lane kilometres, which is approximately 7.5% of the network. This programme mostly consists of three types of work:
We use summer to resurface and rebuild roads as the weather is warm and dry, which helps ensure quality outcomes and longer-lasting roads.
View our national renewal programme(external link)
In winter we focus on routine maintenance activities and responding to issues that appear over time, especially during and after weather events. This can include road closures due to snow, slips, flooding or other factors.
Check Journey Planner for live updates on the status of the state highway network.
Journey Planner(external link)
The majority of pavements in New Zealand are ‘flexible’ to cater for our unique geology in a cost-effective manner. Potholes can occur during the wetter and drier months. Flexible pavements move very slightly when heavy vehicles roll over them, meaning the road structure is less likely to deform.
Areas of the network with older pavements or surfaces are more susceptible to water entering the surface layer and ponding on the road surface. As vehicles drive over the ponding water, tyres create hydraulic pressure, forcing the water down into the pavement. Over time this weakens the road structure and material will loosen and potholes are created.
Occasionally you may experience an issue on the state highway network that results in damage to your vehicle. Examples of this include chipped windscreens when driving on a section of newly sealed road, or tyre damage when driving over a pothole.
Waka Kotahi, through its road maintenance contracts, has an obligation to take reasonable care to maintain the state highway network in good condition. However, in doing so we're constrained by available funding, weather events and resources. For this reason, we can't guarantee that the entire network will ever be free of defects.
You should drive to the local conditions and recognise that conditions may vary along a stretch of road. You should have insurance for your vehicle in the event of any damage that may occur on the road, and your insurer should be your first point of contact when any damage has occurred. If appropriate, your insurer would then get in touch with Waka Kotahi.
Complaints that claim the road’s condition has caused damage to a vehicle are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Waka Kotahi and our contractors investigate to see if there are any exceptional circumstances we should be aware of, which may trigger further obligations on Waka Kotahi or our contractor.
