Te Upoko o Te Ika – Greater Wellington

Our vision

We all deserve a transport system that puts people at the centre – that protects and helps us to get to the places and people important to us, so we can live life to the full.

When our streets are calm and everyone travels at speeds that are appropriate for the road environment, we create inclusive, healthy and people-friendly towns and cities where we can all move around freely, no matter how we choose to travel.

We want our tamariki and future generations to have independence and freedom to thrive. We can do this by designing a transport system that allows young people to get around on their own whether walking, cycling, travelling by scooter or by bus. 

Our region’s state highway network is made up of all types of roads – ranging from major motorways to rural routes, and the main streets of our towns. Wellington is connected to the rest of the North Island via SH1 passing through Kāpiti and Horowhenua towards Manawatū, and via SH2 through Wairarapa towards Hawke's Bay. Other state highways provide local connections including SH58 linking Porirua and the Hutt Valley and SH53 connecting Featherston to Martinborough. Since the opening of the Transmission Gully Motorway, SH59 is an alternative coastal route between Porirua and Kāpiti.

Across the region we’re developing projects that will make it safer to move around. These range from major projects (new motorways and expressways, separated cycling routes and interchange upgrades), to targeted safety improvements, and implementing appropriate speed limits.

This is our vision for Greater Wellington and an important part of Road to Zero, Aotearoa New Zealand’s road safety strategy.

Road to Zero, Aotearoa New Zealand’s road safety strategy

Our journey to a safe system

The safe system is the international gold standard in road safety management and is the approach that underpins Road to Zero.

To design transport systems with people at the centre, we need to address every part. We need speeds that suit the road and how we use it, vehicles and roads that are designed to protect people, and drivers with the right behaviours. We work alongside our partners to implement key interventions that strengthen each part of the system.

Over the last few years, we’ve completed the following projects and safety improvements in Greater Wellington:

SH1

• New speed limits were implemented on SH1 East of Mount Victoria.
• Transmission Gully Motorway Te Aranui o Te Rangihaeata was opened, providing a safe, modern and reliable route in and out of Wellington.

SH2

• The SH2 Cornish Street intersection in Petone was closed to help prevent unsafe wrong-way driving.
• Three safer pedestrian crossings were built in Wairarapa towns.

SH58

• New speed limits were implemented on SH58 and connected local roads, in partnership with local councils.
• Road safety barriers were installed from SH2 to Mount Cecil Road.

We also have the following safety improvements and major projects under implementation or planned:

SH1

• Construction of the Peka Peka to Ōtaki Expressway.
• Construction of corridor improvements on old SH1 replaced by the Mackays to Peka Peka and Peka Peka to Ōtaki sections of Kāpiti Expressway. Work is underway to remove the state highway status from the old SH1 and make it fit for purpose as a local road, with ownership and management being transferred to Kāpiti Coast District Council.
• New median barriers, painted wide centrelines, and roadside barriers at some locations along State Highway 1 from Ōtaki (where the new Expressway will end) to Levin.

SH2

• Construction of Te Ara Tupua, providing a separated and safe cycling route between Wellington and Lower Hutt.
• Construction is underway on SH2 Masterton to Carterton to add three new roundabouts and install road safety barriers. A separate programme is delivering safer pedestrian crossings in Masterton, Carterton, Greytown and Featherston.
• Planning the new SH2 Melling interchange as part of the RiverLink partnership.
• Three dangerous intersections are being improved on SH2 through the Hutt Valley by mid-2024, with more to follow in the next three-year funding period.
• SH2 Remutaka Hill will have new roadside safety barriers, markings and signage, with part of the project delivered by mid 2024.
• Implementing safe speed limits between Masterton and Featherston.

SH58

• Planning the final stage of SH58 safety improvements (median and side barriers, and two new roundabouts) from Harris Road to SH1 Transmission Gully.

To ensure our state highways remain safe and efficient, 67 lane kilometres of road renewals were completed in the Greater Wellington region from mid 2021 to mid 2022, and 88.9 lane kilometres are planned as part of the 2022/23 road maintenance programme.

Why are we changing speed limits?

Changing speed limits comes down to what we all value most: protecting the lives of all of us who use our streets and roads.

Speed limits were first set before we knew what was safe and appropriate for our roads. We know this harms people we care about and have a responsibility for.

Appropriate speeds will make Greater Wellington more inclusive, good for our health and the environment by making it easier and more comfortable for people to walk, ride bikes and use scooters, wheelchairs and other mobility aids to get around. It also gives our tamariki the opportunity for safe, active travel to school on their own, with friends or their caregivers.

It’s our responsibility to do better.

We’re taking practical steps to ensure we’re protecting the people and communities we care about - and we welcome you to be part of that journey.

A new approach to managing speeds

Safe speeds around schools

We’re empowering our younger generations to thrive and have the freedom to walk, bus or bike to school by setting new speed limits.

We’re working together with local government on a target of all schools across Aotearoa, including kura kaupapa Māori and Kura ā Iwi, with safe and appropriate speed limits by the end of 2027. That’s approximately 2,500 schools in total, so our future generations can get around safely in ways that are good for their health and the environment.

There are several ways to achieve safe speeds around schools. Some roads may get permanent speed limits and others such as the state highway may use variable speed limits. Our approach considers the surrounding area of a school, to look after tamariki travelling further than the streets outside the front gate.

We aim to deliver safe speed limits to between 80 to 120 schools by mid 2024. The remaining schools will be delivered in our next National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) period (2024–27) because these roading environments are complex and will require longer conversations.

How school zone speed signs work

What we know about Greater Wellington

The different ways our state highways in Greater Wellington are being used

The state highway network in our region ranges from modern motorways and expressways, to narrow rural roads, and urban streets through town centres.

Our main north-south state highway spines, SH1 and SH2, are crucial corridors connecting the Lower North Island to Wellington and to the South Island via the Cook Strait ferries. They’re essential for the movement of goods and people, with thousands of commuter journeys and freight movements each day.

Findings from our analysis

As part of our analysis to determine the appropriate speed for a road, we consider the characteristics and nature of the road and its surrounding environment, how people are using the road, and collective safety risk.

The findings from our analysis on State Highways 1 and 2 showed:

SH1

• The construction of the Kāpiti Expressway means that in future, the ‘old’ State Highway 1 will no longer be required to function as a state highway, and will be transferred to Kāpiti Coast District Council to operate as a local road, when changes to the roads have been constructed. The Mackays to Peka Peka section of the expressway opened in 2017 and the Peka Peka to Ōtaki section is expected to open at the end of 2022.
• Waka Kotahi and the Kāpiti Coast District Council have been working together to improve the old SH1 corridor before this transfer occurs. These corridor improvements projects aim to ensure the road is fit for its new purpose and is safe for all users. This includes setting appropriate speed limits on some parts.

SH2

• In the Hutt Valley, the most significant safety issues are at the intersections along the route. Several of these intersections have high approach speeds of 100km/h and are controlled by traffic lights, or not controlled at all. When mistakes happen at high speed at these types of intersections, the most severe crashes can occur.
• Over past years we have upgraded some intersections to be new interchanges which are safer, but these projects require significant time and resource. A new interchange will soon be built at Melling as part of RiverLink, and safety improvements are being designed for other intersections, which will include appropriate speed limits for some locations.
• Over the Remutaka Hill, the winding narrow road cannot be safely driven at high speeds. A lower speed limit will reflect appropriate operating speeds on the route.
• North of Masterton, urban growth is moving beyond the former edge of town with new retirement village developments and other homes being built. A lower speed limit will make this area safer as more people walk, cycle and drive in the area, including higher numbers of elderly people.

What we’ve heard so far

We’ve had ongoing conversations with a range of partners, organisations and groups that have an interest or would be impacted by our plans to manage speed on our state highways.

We’ve also engaged with the community on safety issues and current speed limits on some parts of the network which are included in the draft Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan. We engaged with the community in Kāpiti about safety and speed on the ‘old’ SH1 in April and May 2021, and we engaged the community in the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa about their experiences on SH2 through from Ngāūranga to Featherston in September and October 2021.

Key themes we’ve heard from these conversations:

• On the ‘old’ SH1 through Kāpiti (the sections that will be replaced as the main State Highway route when both sections of expressway are opened), some people felt that the 100km/h speed limit outside of the towns should be retained, while others supported lower speed limits of 80km/h. In the towns some people supported lower speed limits of 50km/h, 40km/h or 30km/h.
• On SH2 in the Hutt Valley, people who gave feedback agreed there was a safety risk at many of the intersections, but wanted to see journey times maintained as much as possible. Many people hoped to see more investment in major upgrades (like new interchanges – with overbridges and on- and off-ramps) in the long term.

We’ve considered feedback from these conversations alongside our analysis as factors to develop our draft Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan.

Draft Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan [PDF, 25 MB]

Proposed speed limits in Greater Wellington

Following our analysis and conversations with partners, interested groups and organisations, we propose the following new speed limits:

Speed limit map

View larger map and speed limit tables [PDF, 904 KB]

Speed limit tables

Have your say

Consultation on the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan closed on 12 December 2022.

We’re considering feedback from this consultation alongside existing information to finalise the interim plan, and will share an update in early 2023.

Subscribe to updates

Subscribe to updates on the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan(external link)