New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) has kicked-off a multi-million-dollar project to upgrade a key rural road.
When it is finished, about five kilometres of Tarata Road between Inglewood and the Purangi Saddle will have been rebuilt, with the work concentrating on high-risk areas.
“Tarata Road is a significant regional and economic road but it’s under a lot of pressure from an increasing volume of logging trucks – it wasn’t built to withstand this type of traffic and it’s deteriorating pretty quickly,” says Sarah Downs, NPDC General Manager Operational Excellence.
“What we’re essentially doing is reforming a lot of the road. There’ll be a mix of road widening, realignment, drainage works, tree removals and rebuilding the road layers.
“The outcome will be a stronger, more resilient road that’s better able to withstand, not just the heavy traffic, but also the effects of storms and flooding, which will improve user-safety and reduce maintenance costs.”
Six sites have been identified for improvement. The first site is a 1.4km section that will be finished by Christmas, weather allowing, with the work shifting to other sites in the New Year.
She says packaging up a variety of work along Tarata Road into a single two-year project is in response to community wishes for improvements to be completed sooner, especially given the damage from heavy traffic only getting worse.
So far, $7.4 million has been approved for the project, comprising $5.6m split equally between NPDC’s Junction Road Endowment Fund and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s resilience fund, and $1.8m from NPDC’s 2025/26 Annual Plan.
A further $1.8m has been requested as part of next year’s Annual Plan.
A small ceremony was held on the site this past weekend, attended by local residents, New Plymouth District Mayor-elect Max Brough and John Woodward, who was provisionally elected as one of five councillors at large.
