Saddle Rd speed slash
A de facto state highway connecting the eastern and western sides of the North Island is set to have a maximum speed limit of 60kmh.
The New Zealand Transport Agency has been consulting since July on the speed limit for the Saddle Rd. The road is effectively State Highway 3 between Ashhurst and Woodville, with landslips rendering the usual highway through the Manawatu¯ Gorge unpassable since 2017.
The Saddle Rd was a 100kmh zone, but was dropped to 80kmh – with a 60kmh zone near the top – when the gorge closed.
Those lower limits were only emergency limits, though, put in place in January last year.
The agency is seeking feedback on its final speed proposal for the road, which would lower the speed on the entire route, from Ashhurst to Mangaatua Stream, to 60kmh.
The transport agency’s safety and environment director Harry Wilson said crashes on the road had increased by 88 per cent.
There used to be only 150 vehicles on the road each day, but that had bloated to 5100, he said.
‘‘Our priority is to make this a safer route so that everyone using it can get where they are going safely and reliably.’’
A review of traffic speeds showed most people went between 55 and 59kmh across the Saddle Rd, so it would not add significantly to travel time, he said.
‘‘Our priority is to make this a safer route so that everyone using it can get where they are going safely and reliably.’’ Harry Wilson