Support for reducing limit
A Waka Kotahi proposal to reduce the speed limit on the Remutaka Hill to 60kph between Upper Hutt and Wairarapa has support from at least one daily commuter.
Scientist Dennis Page, who travels from Greytown to Seaview, keeps a record of his daily trips. He says that on the 13km section over the hill, he averages around 60kph.
Weather conditions, tight corners, logging trucks, poor road design and the uneven surface all slowed drivers down, he said. He accepted the need to reduce the limit, but also favoured upgrading the road to reduce accidents.
The change is part of a wideranging plan to reduce limits on State Highway 2 from Ngāūranga to Featherston. It is part of Road to Zero, which aims to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads by 40% over the next 10 years.
From 2011 to 2020, there were more than 2300 crashes on SH2 between Ngāūranga and Featherston, with 15 people killed and 149 seriously injured.
AA spokesperson Dylan Thomsen said it accepted speed was a factor in many accidents. A more realistic limit for the Remutaka Hill, however, was 80kph.
Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne
Guppy supports the proposed speed limit reductions in the short term, especially on the section of SH2 known as River Rd. In 2021, it was reported 50 people had died on River Rd since its 1987 opening, with speed a major contributor.
In the long term, the solution was for the entire section of SH2 that ran through Upper Hutt and interchanges to be four lanes, to keep traffic moving, Guppy said.
He predicted that putting in traffic lights and reducing speed on River Rd would lead to frustration and force drivers on to arterial roads. Guppy also backed reducing the speed limit on the Remutaka Hill but felt 80kph was more realistic.
Ian Adamson, who commutes daily from Greytown to Porirua, said the current 100kph limit was excessive, and the proposed reduction was justified on safety grounds. Featherston resident Bruce Hodgins, who has commuted daily for 20 years to Hutt City, suggested that 70kph was a better target.
Thomsen said Waka Kotahi was also looking at reducing speed limits north of Featherston.
He believed that a limit of 80kph for much of the road between Ngāūranga and Master
ton was a likely final outcome, despite sections of the road north of Featherston being suitable for a higher limit.
South Wairarapa Mayor Martin Connolly said the consensus amongst Wairarapa’s leaders was that Waka Kotahi did not listen to the community during consultation on speed limits.
He agreed that a lowered speed limit on the Remutaka Hill was reasonable, but said lowering the limit to 80kph on long straight sections of SH2 between Featherston and Greytown was hard to understand.
MP for Remutaka Chris Hipkins supported lowering speed limits as ‘‘a sensible short-term measure’’ but said it was clear that in the medium to long term, more work needed to be done to improve safety on SH2.
Consultation on the Ngāūranga-Featherston proposals runs until December 12.
From 2011 to 2020, there were more than 2300 crashes on SH2 between Ngāūranga and Featherston, with 15 people killed and 149 seriously injured.