Fresh push for four-lane highway from Rolleston to Ashburton

RNZ News

03-07-2025

Rachel Gillard-Tew launched a petition this week calling on the government to reconsider four-laning the stretch of SH1 from Rolleston to Ashburton.
Photo:
LDR / Ashburton Guardian
A woman fed up with seeing near-misses is campaigning for State Highway 1 between Rolleston and Ashburton to be increased to four lanes.
Rachel Gillard-Tew launched a petition this week calling on the government to reconsider four-laning the 63km stretch of road.
"State Highway 1 is the lifeline connecting communities across New Zealand, and the section between Rolleston and Ashburton is crying out for attention.
"Despite its importance, it remains a single-lane hazard."
Her motivation stems from a personal connection to "a catastrophic accident on SH1" and, as a regular traveller along SH1, witnessing plenty of close calls.
With Rolleston and surrounding towns continuing to develop, traffic would only increase, she said.
"The potential for devastating accidents increases by the day.
"It's time SH1 is also prioritised."
With the range of vehicle sizes and speeds, it creates a stressful environment where people lose patience and take risks, she said.
"There is no room for error at all with no protection from oncoming traffic.
"The lack of safe intersections and an adequate median barrier makes this highway section particularly perilous.
"The need for immediate action is clear and compelling."
Creating four lanes between Rolleston and Ashburton would save lives and reduce the unnecessary risks faced by commuters and holiday travellers, she said.
The major hurdle is, and has always been, the cost.
Adding two lanes from Rolleston to Ashburton will require the extension or construction of new two-lane bridges at the Selwyn and Rakaia rivers.
Former Selwyn District councillor Mark Alexander said that four-laning between Rolleston and Ashburton is "unaffordable for our region and country".
He said a second bridge at Rakaia is needed for resilience and "more maintenance of the existing roadway is needed".
"We need more schools and better healthcare, more than a motorway between Ashburton and Rolleston."
Alexander sat on the Greater Christchurch Partnership and Regional Transport Committee during his time on the council, between 2010 and 2022, and said the "cost-benefit ratio was not favourable" for four lanes.
He was referencing a business case looking at traffic solutions on SH1 between Christchurch and Dunedin, which was ready for the NZTA Board in 2017.
Instead, the National-led government announced its roads of national significance policy that included four lanes from Christchurch to Ashburton.
National lost the election later that year, and the roads of national significance were scrapped by the incoming Labour-led coalition Government.
The business case, released under the Official Information Act, shows the preferred option was not four lanes.
It included a second bridge in Ashburton and a series of "2+1" lanes, essentially alternating passing lanes between Christchurch and Ashburton.
NZTA hasn't ruled out four-laning in future, but it is not part of the National Land Transport Plan 2024-27.
Regional manager for system design Rich Osborne said NZTA is investing in safety measures on SH1 between Lyttelton and Timaru ports.
He said NZTA is aware of safety concerns about the busy State Highway 1 corridor, as raised in the petition.
Safety improvement works are being planned and undertaken, he said.
"Providing for wide centrelines has been a recent focus of safety improvements.
"This creates more space between lanes and keeps vehicles further apart, which can reduce serious crashes resulting in death and serious injuries.
"Recent work has included widening of the southbound shoulder of SH1 south of Rolleston, between Dunns Crossing Road and Burnham Road, to install a wide centreline."
Further improvements over the next few years include building a second Ashburton bridge, the Rolleston access improvements project, and a new roundabout at the Burnham Road/Aylesbury Road intersection.
A stretch south of Hinds and 2km at Rolleston have had centre line widening and more is being planned, but not until the next three-year land transport plan.
"Pre-implementation work, including detailed design and some property acquisition work, is underway for wide centrelines and some widening works for sections of State Highway 1 from Burnham Road to Selwyn River, south of Selwyn River to north of Rakaia, and south of Rakaia to north of Ashburton.
"As part of its long-term forward planning, NZTA is exploring future options for improving the SH1 corridor between Lyttelton and Timaru ports, and this includes looking at replacement of SH1 bridges, the role of rail and the potential introduction of four-laning."
National first proposed four-laning the highway ahead of the 2017 election, and the policy was resurrected at the 2020 election.
The party had promised to investigate its viability in the lead-up to the 2023 election.
When it released its National Land Transport Plan in 2024, National's Roads of National Significance were back, with 15 new four-lane roading projects across the country - including the Woodend Bypass, but not between Ashburton and Rolleston.
Rangitata MP, and South Island Minister, James Meager said the idea needed to be reevaluated.
"We need to do the work to see how it stacks up - the last time anyone looked at it seriously was in 2017, before Labour came into government.
"My main focus is getting construction started on the second Ashburton bridge and making progress on our other major South Island roading projects."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.