Hawke's Bay Expressway

The Hawke's Bay Expressway, known also as the Napier-Hastings Expressway, runs from Hawke's Bay Airport passing through Napier and Taradale, west of Hastings, and ends at Pakipaki just south of Hastings, a total length of 24km.

Hawke's Bay Expressway
Route information
Maintained by NZ Transport Agency
Length	24 km (15 mi)
Component highways	SH 2
Major junctions
North end	SH 2 – near Napier Airport
	SH 50 north – Pirimai SH 51 SH 50 south – near Pakowhai
South end	SH 2 – Pakipaki, south of Hastings
Location
Major cities	Napier, Hastings
Highway system
New Zealand state highways Motorways and expressways List

History

The first section (Kennedy Road - Pakowhai Road) opened in the late 1960s, and construction did not recommence until the late 1990s (south of Pakowhai Road). For 30 years the partially formed approaches for the Kennedy Road overbridge stood each side of the dual carriageway from Napier to Taradale. In 2002, work began to strengthen the approaches and build the bridge: the new expressway opened through to Hawkes Bay Airport late in 2003. In 2007 the Meeanee interchange was built to grade separate that intersection. A new extension south of Flaxmere opened in 2011. The expressway remains single carriageway along its length at present, although has been designed to allow dual-carriageway upgrading. This became an electoral commitment by the National party in the 2017 election as part of a series of national upgrades to roads, but they were not successful at forming a Government in the post-election coalition negotiations.[1]

In 2019, the New Zealand Transport Agency approved renumbering of the entire expressway to SH 2. The former designation of SH 2 via Napier and Hastings became a new designation of SH 51, taking effect from 1 August.[2]

Design

The Expressway is one lane in each direction, with, heading south, roundabouts at Prebensen Drive and Taradale Road and interchanges at Kennedy Road (north off, south on) and Meeanee Road (traffic lights for many years and a notorious black spot - replaced with a grade separated interchange in 2007), and roundabouts at Pakowhai Road/Links Road (previously traffic lights), Evenden Road, Omahu Road, Flaxmere Avenue/York Road, a 5-way roundabout with Maraekakaho Road/Longlands Road/Pakipaki Road and a roundabout at its terminus with SH 2 at Pakipaki. The expressway is entirely zoned at a 100 km/h limit.

Major intersections

Territorial authority	Location	km	jct	Destinations	Notes
Napier City	Westshore	0		Watchman Road SH 2 north (Main North Road) – Napier Airport, Gisborne Meeanee Quay (Former SH 2 south) – City Centre	Hawke's Bay Expressway begins Hawke's Bay Expressway/SH 2 concurrency begins
	Onekawa	2.4		SH 50 north (Prebensen Road)	Hawke's Bay Expressway/SH 50 concurrency begins
		4.1		SH 51 (Taradale Road) – Clive, Hastings	Coastal route
	Tamatea			Kennedy Road	Northbound exit and southbound entry
	Jervoistown			Meeanee Road	Full diamond interchange
	Pakowhai			Pakowhai Road SH 50 south (Links Road)	Hawke's Bay Expressway/SH 50 concurrency ends Staggered intersection converted to roundabout in 2018[3]
Hastings District	Hastings			Evenden Road
				Omahu Road
	Flaxmere			York Road Flaxmere Avenue
	Longlands			Longlands Road Maraekakaho Road
	Pakipaki			Railway Road (Former SH 2 north) – Hastings Te Aute Road – Havelock North SH 2 south – Waipukurau, Wellington	Hawke's Bay Expressway ends Hawke's Bay Expressway/SH 2 concurrency ends

See also

• List of motorways and expressways in New Zealand

References

1. "Next generation Roads of National Significance" (Press release). New New Zealand National Party. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
2. "Hawke's Bay's state highways to be renumbered in August". NZ Transport Agency. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
3. "Higgins to construct SH50 roundabout". NZ Transport Agency. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2018.