Manawatū Tararua Highway open for business
A more efficient, reliable and safer journey through the Ruahine Ranges opened this week with the completion of the Manawatū Tararua Highway.
The new 11.5-kilometre highway between Ashhurst and Woodville replaces State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge, which was permanently closed in April 2017 due to landslides.
This new road provides a vital link for freight operators and businesses throughout the lower and central North Island, which will encourage travel and support economic growth for the region.
The four-lane highway, divided by a safe flexible median barrier, is expected to carry up to around 9,000 vehicles each day, with 10 per cent of those being heavy vehicles. General traffic will take between 10 – 12 minutes to drive the road, which is a significant improvement on the current 20 – 25 minute detour route in place.
Constructing this new road required remarkable engineering. The road features six bridges, two of which are more than 300-metres in length, and features to minimise the risk of erosion and slips. The expected cost to complete the project now stands at $824.1 million.
Key features of the project include:
- 11.5 kilometres of new highway between Ashhurst and Woodville two lanes each way with a dividing barrier
- more than six and a half million cubic metres of earthworks
- six structures, including two bridges of more than 300 metres’ length
- cuts of up to 55 metres in depth
- embankments up to 28 metres high
- roundabouts at the eastern and western entrances
- viewing areas over Ashhurst, Woodville and Te Āpiti Wind Farm
- a shared use path for pedestrians and cyclists.
