EXPRESS WAY PLANS

Here’s a concept of how the new Cambridge to Piarere expressway may look. We expect to start building it in late 2026.

Cambridge to Piarere in the heart of Waikato is a nationally-strategic transport corridor for our country, connecting Auckland to Waikato and the Bay of Plenty and linking through to the central and southern North Island.

The Cambridge to Piarere expressway is a Road of National Significance that’ll improve safety and travel time reliability and boost the region’s economic growth. It’ll also give this vital route more resilience. It’ll be a 16-kilometre-long four-lane expressway, designed for 110km/h, running from the southern end of the Cambridge section of the Waikato Expressway to the SH1 / SH29 roundabout at Piarere.

At the moment we’re working on property acquisition and detailed design. In December 2024 we submitted resource consent applications under a fast-track consenting pathway for roading infrastructure projects. This is faster than the standard Resource Management Act process, and we expect this to take between five and seven months.

To give you a flavour of what the expressway might look like, and the path it could follow, we’ve produced this animated flythrough – this is a concept and is subject to changes and finalisation. Some elements, such as final landscaping, are still being designed and aren’t included in the flythrough.

You can keep up to date with our work on the new expressway by signing up to our email newsletter. Visit our website to sign up, and to find out more about the project on their website https://www.nzta.govt.nz/sh1-cambridge-to-piarere.../