The opening of the $384million Huntly bypass section of the Waikato Expressway has been hailed as a milestone by the National Road Carriers Association.
"This is the first motorway link between two New Zealand cities. For the first time it will be possible to go from Auckland to Hamilton on a motorway/expressway," points out NRC chief executive David Aitken.
"The Huntly bypass will speed up travel and delivery times, improve productivity, reduce emissions and be safer," he adds.
He praises Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and its contractors for building the bypass with minimal disruption to State Highway 1 users.
The 15-kilometre bypass is part of the 102km of SH1 four-laning, from Bombay to south of Cambridge – the project to be completed when the 22km Hamilton section opens late next year. The completed Expressway is expected to reduce travel times by 35 minutes between its northern and southern ends.
The Huntly section connects completed Expressway sections at Ohinewai in the north and the Ngaruawahia section at Gordonton Road in the south. 
Waka Kotahi NZTA says it will bring major improvements in safety and efficiency, taking traffic away from the congestion point through Huntly, which has a poor safety record.
"The new road will provide people travelling through the Waikato on State Highway 1 with a safer, more reliable and more enjoyable journey," says portfolio manager Darryl Coalter.
He points to the support of iwi as critical to the success of the project: "Without a strong relationship with Waikato-Tainui we could not have got this road built in such a culturally significant area. We've set out to recognise this cultural significance through pou and other artwork along the route, and the restoration of two former pa sites."
Aitken also welcomes National Party leader Simon Bridges' statement that a National Government would bring forward four-laning of SH1 between Whangārei and Auckland – work that it had signalled before the 2017 election, but which was put on the back-burner by the current Government.
The Government then committed $692million on four-laning the road between Whangārei and Port Marsden Highway to Northport, as part of the NZ Upgrade Programme within its $12billion infrastructure package.