November 2025
This information was shared during the community engagement period in November and December 2025. Whilst community engagement on this proposed design is complete, extensive engagement continues with our mana whenua partners, councils, landowners, and other key stakeholders.
Travel on SH1 to key destinations including the CBD, airport and hospital will be faster and more reliable, encouraging less traffic on local roads. Less traffic on local roads enables opportunities for greater use by public transport and other modes. Improved walking and cycling facilities through the Mt Victoria Tunnel will improve options for active travel. Collectively, these improvements will increase productivity and drive economic growth.
Having an efficient and reliable state highway network is critical to Wellington. It provides people from across the region with access to business, employment and education hubs in central Wellington, as well as the Wellington International Airport and Wellington Hospital.
A number of previous projects have looked at ways to address the congestion at peak times along SH1 through Wellington, which cause delays, unpredictable journey times, and increasing traffic on local roads as people seek alternative routes. During that time the problems have continued to get worse.
In developing the proposed design, we canvassed these previous investigations and previous community feedback and made refinements to align with the Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 and the investment objective endorsed by the NZTA Board in October 2024.
The design is in its early stages. This means major elements like the layout are mostly confirmed, but finer details are being worked through. You can download the proposal design here:
SH1 Wellington improvements engagement brochure [PDF, 14 MB]
This fly-through video shows an artist impression of the proposed design - firstly for a southbound journey starting north of the Terrace Tunnels (including navigational information at the Basin Reserve), and then for a northbound journey from Cobham Drive back to the Terrace Tunnels.
This video is indicative only.
You can stay up to date on this webpage, via our Facebook page and by subscribing to updates on SH1 Wellington improvements.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi – Wellington (Facebook)(external link)
Subscribe for updates on SH1 Wellington improvements(external link)
