Remutaka Hill (Upper Hutt to Featherston)
We’re making SH2 Remutaka Hill safer with new infrastructure improvements.
The steep and unforgiving nature of the Remutaka Hill makes it a challenging road to travel over and it’s one of our country’s most high-risk sections of highway. In the last 10 years between 2013 and 2022, there have been 387 crashes on the hill with 32 people losing their lives or being seriously injured.
Project details
Location: Remutaka Hill, between the twin bridges and 1.3km north of Marchant Road
Improvements: We’ve installed additional side barriers at high-risk locations, along the Remutaka Hill. We’ve also installed further motorcycle under-barriers, to improve safety for motorcyclists. Other changess we’ve made include include the replacement of the existing passing lanes with slow vehicle lanes, as well as improved road signage and markings .
Project timeline: To help minimise disruption to people travelling over the hill, the safety improvements have been timed to coincide with the planned maintenance closures. It is expected that the set of safety improvements will be fully completed during the 2024 night closures scheduled between September and November.
Project information: For the latest information about the proposed night closures, visit the ‘SH2 Remutaka Hill road night closures’ page.
SH2 Remutaka Hill road night closures
Did you know
- Road safety improvements like better barriers mean that when a driver makes a mistake, and a crash occurs, it's less likely to result in people being killed or seriously injured.
- Motorcycle under-barriers can reduce serious injuries and deaths by redirecting riders along the barrier and away from the guardrail posts if they come off their motorbike. Over half the people who have lost their lives or been seriously injured on the Remutaka Hill in the last five years**, have been motorcyclists. These under-barriers will make the hill safer for motorcyclists
- The new road signage will include the installation of ‘Courtesy Bay’ signs that more clearly signal the places where drivers of slower moving vehicles can safely pull over to allow other vehicles to pass.
Want to find out more about the safety improvements, get in touch today: SH2HuttValley@nzta.govt.nz
