State Highway 2 in the Wairarapa requires significant investment to ensure the state highway is functioning to a high standard. The NZTA Wellington Transport Alliance (WTA) will undertake an extensive programme of works in the Wairarapa region in the upcoming years to rebuild sections of the state highway most in need of investment.
Road rebuilds are disruptive, so we will work with communities to ensure everyone is aware, prepared, and understands the impacts of the works. We are rebuilding sections of the road from the base up, meaning the road will need less maintenance and repairs in the future, and will provide a longer-lasting road surface.
Road rebuilds typically take several weeks to complete and cause short-term disruption to residents and businesses. This includes vehicle access to property restrictions, carparking restrictions, detour routes, and general construction noise and dust.
In 2024 and 2025, WTA rebuilt sections of SH2 through Featherston, Greytown, Carterton, and Masterton. While these works disrupted the community in the short-term; the road is now in much better condition.
As the roads reach the end of their pavement life, many of the Wairarapa region’s roads are in poor structural condition and require comprehensive work to fix. State Highways usually have a surface lifespan of seven to ten years and require rebuilding approximately every 25 years. Now we need to complete a deep rebuild of the sections with the poorest conditions along SH2, as regular resurfacing cannot fix the deep-seated pavement deterioration issues.
A road rebuild means the road needs to be excavated deep into the road surface, unlike a typical resurfacing job. In some sites we will need to excavate to 900mm, so the road can be completely reconstructed. The ground conditions below the road surface in the Wairarapa are unique, as some areas contain clay and silt. Combined with the presence of underground utility services, the ground conditions make roadworks challenging.
This way of rebuilding the road from the base up will involve replacing all or most of the structural road layers, which makes the work intensive, but it will improve the overall network conditions through more intensive treatments, which will increase pavement quality.
We tend to complete works both day and night, so we can minimise disruption and complete the works faster. The chosen methodology and construction materials used for road rebuilds typically cause the least disruption possible, while maintaining a quality result. Residents and businesses within the works area will face a lot of disruption, such as access and parking restrictions, and noise from heavy machinery.
There is no easier or less impactful way to complete these works because we must dig up the road so deep and reconstruct it from the ground up. It is not safe for vehicles to drive over a dug-out road, so this is why access to properties is not possible while we work on it.
Example of a deep excavated road rebuild site before it is rebuilt back up.
These works will result in a significantly improved state highway requiring fewer repairs and less maintenance in the future. Additionally, the roads will be more resilient and less susceptible to potholes and will only need occasional resurfacing work for the next 25 years.
We work with local councils and service providers to complete other projects at the same time as the road rebuilds. This will lead to less disruption for the community in the long term, and save costs on temporary traffic management by utilising full road closures.
Impacted residents and businesses will be contacted directly prior to and throughout road rebuild works. The community can stay up-to-date with state highway works via social media, or by signing up for weekly roadworks updates. You can also email us.
Email: customer@wta.nzta.govt.nz
Connect with us via social media
