NZTD News

Recovery works in the Waioweka Gorge on State Highway 2 (SH2) are ramping up with contracts now in place to help restore full operation of the state highway after weather events earlier this year, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says.

“Following the severe weather events in January 2026, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has worked hard to keep the road open. They are now focused on longer-term recovery works, with the aim of restoring full access to SH2 and removing the need for ongoing traffic management,” Mr Bishop say...

The Iran conflict has done in months what years of policy debate could not - made our exposure to international energy prices impossible to ignore. Fuel prices have more than doubled since the Strait of Hormuz closed. For an industry that runs nearly exclusively on diesel, suddenly alternative energy options come into sharp focus.

We should not be entirely surprised. When your business depends on a commodity priced in US dollars and routed through geopolitical flashpoints halfway around the world, the risk was always t...

Great to see Labour’s first policy is transport-related  

This week the Labour Party kicked off its election campaign policies with one proposing to cap weekly public transport fares at $20 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and at $10 everywhere else in the country. 

It’s good to get something on the table, and I think even better that it was transport-related, because it shows how important transport is.  

I’m always mindful we stay politically agnostic, and it is not our role to tel...

Described by Minister of Finance Hon Nicola Willis as a “bread and butter budget”, there were no big announcements in the 2026 budget on 28 May for the transport sector – well, unless you’re KiwiRail.

Perhaps the biggest piece of news was the injection of $1.44 billion for rail, $609m of which is for the Rail Network Investment Programme, $593m for capital expenditure on the freight network, and $199m for passenger rail, most of which is for the Auckland City Rail Link, along with network improvements for the lower Nor...

This week ferry services across the Cook Strait were suspended. That meant no trains, no trucks and no other vehicles could cross the Cook Strait for at least 24 hours. This was a major delay for the nation's State Highway 1 and for the New Zealand Main Trunk Railway.

For these times, the Clifford Bay alternative becomes very attractive, mostly because when the traffic starts moving again, the journey would be two hours shorter for the journey to Christchurch and freight and passengers held up could be accommodated eas...

There is good news for people travelling to and from the West Coast on State Highway 6 through the Buller Gorge.

Philip Hamblin, Acting Area Manager – Nelson/Tasman, says changes have been made to the methodology for strengthening work planned for O’Sullivan’s Bridge.

“Project engineers have adjusted the design and simplified the construction approach. It means the series of 30-minute planned closures for the bridge, previously scheduled daily from 15 to 26 June are no longer needed.”

Mr Hamblin says instea...