{"id":287073,"date":"2026-02-16T18:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287073\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T18:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:36:14","slug":"far-north-roads-locals-welcome-nzta-move-to-lower-sh1-speed-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287073\/","title":{"rendered":"Far North roads: Locals welcome NZTA move to lower SH1 speed limits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt needs to be 80 because those three bridges are so narrow, the trucks have gotten wider, there have been so many accidents on the bridges and between Taumatam\u0101kuku. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a dangerous piece of road. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful they are relooking at this, because reversing it was a mistake.\u201d <\/p>\n

NZTA said the changes \u2013 being reviewed in line with the requirements of the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024 \u2013 are in response to \u201cstrong community feedback that current speed limits aren\u2019t suitable for these stretches of road\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 2.75km Moerewa<\/a> to Kawakawa<\/a> stretch in particular includes three narrow bridges with limited visibility and increased use from trucks, tourists and pedestrians. <\/p>\n

After a decades-long campaign by residents of Taumatam\u0101kuku, between Kawakawa and Moerewa, NZTA dropped the speed limit from 100km\/h to 80km\/h in August 2020. <\/p>\n

It was later reversed back to 100km\/h<\/a> under retrospective rules for setting speed limits.<\/p>\n

Roddy Hapati Pihema, who heads the Taumatam\u0101kuku Community Residents Representative Committee, said the community had always wanted the lower speed.<\/p>\n

\"RoddyRoddy Hapati Pihema [left] has campaigned hard for improved road safety in the Far North settlement of Taumatam\u0101kuku.<\/p>\n

He said there have been about five deaths and many other serious crashes on that stretch of road since 2009. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy we get another shot at it, but a lot of our routes are in a huge disarray. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you drive down SH1 and look around, you see blotches of tar covering up potholes. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad we have to continue to waste money, whereas it could be used in other areas. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they got it right the first time, we wouldn\u2019t be in this situation.\u201d <\/p>\n

In January 2025, the Government announced the reversal<\/a> of speed limit reductions on a large number of New Zealand roads. <\/p>\n

The move was to reverse mandated \u201cblanket\u201d speed limit reductions introduced under Labour. <\/p>\n

Consultation on the current proposal closes at 5pm on March 24. Visit nzta.govt.nz\/northland-speed-reviews<\/a> to have your say. <\/p>\n

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt needs to be 80 because those three bridges are so narrow, the trucks have gotten wider, there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1558,4500,528,71,86334,305,20384,700,50371,53946,20829,2513,2683,111,43,139,529,1067,69,16488,10711,29056,9361,20383,37229,25093,13672,61,1845,102],"class_list":["post-287073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-been","tag-changes","tag-far","tag-from","tag-gratitude","tag-have","tag-highways","tag-latest","tag-limit","tag-limits","tag-locals","tag-lower","tag-move","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-nzta","tag-officials","tag-proposed","tag-relief","tag-roads","tag-sh1","tag-speed","tag-state","tag-to","tag-welcome","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}