My Account
The Government will spend millions on safety improvements on State Highway 1 between Warkworth and the Brynderwyn Hills.
The work is part of a $95 million package to improve the most dangerous roads in Northland and Auckland.
In the past decade there have been 26 deaths on the 27km stretch of road, including nine deaths and 24 serious injuries between Wellsford and the Brynderwyns and 17 deaths and 42 serious injuries in the Dome Valley.
The safety upgrades will include realignment of corners, side barriers, median barriers, rumble strips, wide centrelines, road marking and improved signage. Speed will also be addressed.
Work in the Dome Valley is due to start in 2018 and cost about $25 million.
Planning for the Wellsford to Brynderwyn section will start in the next year and work is expected to start in 2018. The costs will be confirmed once investigations and design are complete.
The work is part of the Government’s Safer Roads and Roadsides programme which will see $100 million safety improvements each year for six years.
The programme targets more than 90 high-risk sites on rural state highways, including nearly all roads where there have been five or more fatalities in the last five years.
NZ Automobile Association motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon says the investment will save lives.
“We know that upgrading roads with things like barriers, wide centrelines, rumble strip and better road markings makes a huge difference in reducing crashes, but this programme will see them used on a much greater scale,” Mr Noon says.
