Newstalk ZB
More than a decade after it was first proposed, the Cambridge to Piarere section of the Waikato Expressway has secured $1.77 billion in Government funding. Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Transport Minister Chris Bishop visited the project site near Karāpiro on Sunday. Their visit followed the Budget 2026 announcement, which provides funding for the Cambridge to Piarere Road of National Significance. The 16km four-lane expressway will connect the southern end of the existing Waikato Expressway with the State Highway 1 and SH29 intersection at Piarere. Bishop said the project would make travel safer, faster and more reliable while strengthening one of New Zealand’s most important freight corridors. “State Highway 1 between Cambridge and Piarere is a critical freight and economic link connecting Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty with the central and lower North Island,” he said. “This project has been talked about for years. Now we’re getting on with it.” The Government says the new expressway, combined with recently completed safety improvements on SH1, is expected to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the route by around 70%. The project will include a grade-separated interchange near Karāpiro Rd, four bridges and median and roadside safety barriers along the route. Bishop said years of planning work had been required before the project could move to construction. “People sometimes think you can just start building a road tomorrow. You can’t.” Waikato MP Tim van de Molen (from left), Transport Minister Chris Bishop, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Taupō MP Louise Upston at the Cambridge to Piarere Road of National Significance site near Karāpiro on Sunday. Photo / Tom Eley Bishop said extensive work, including business cases, property acquisition, designations and resource consenting, had to be completed before construction could get under way. “There’s an enormous amount of work that has to happen. All of that stuff takes time before you can start turning a sod.” Consents for the project were granted in September 2025 and early works approved by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) in December are already underway. Major construction is expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027. Taupō MP Louise Upston said she had spent years campaigning for the project after National lost power in 2017. “I started a petition. We started activating the community,” she said. Upston said the Cambridge to Piarere section was the logical next stage of the expressway, because it catered for traffic travelling south on State Highway 1 and east towards Tauranga and Bay of Plenty. As passing motorists sounded their horns while driving past the site visit, Upston pointed to the support the project continued to enjoy. “The toots say it all,” she said. Bishop said the project was a key part of improving connections through the so-called Golden Triangle between Auckland, Waikato and Tauranga. “The Golden Triangle between Auckland, Waikato and Tauranga is home to more than half of New Zealand’s population and around 60% of the country’s gross domestic product,” he said. “This corridor is critical to New Zealand’s economic growth.” The Government says the Cambridge to Piarere project has a benefit-cost ratio of between 2.7 and 3.1. Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good says improved transport links help drive economic growth across the region. Photo / Tom Eley Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good said improved arterial routes had historically supported growth in surrounding communities. “As we always find with arterial routes, that brings prosperity to people around it,” Good said. The Government said the project was the next major Road of National Significance to receive funding following the start of construction on the Ōtaki to north of Levin and Hawke’s Bay Expressway projects. “The Government is getting on with building the roads in our long-term infrastructure pipeline to redress New Zealand’...
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