SH1 Dome Valley

Making the road safer

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is working to improve safety along SH1 in Dome Valley. This project forms part of the Road to Zero programme currently underway to prevent deaths and serious injuries on high-risk state highways and local roads. 

The project began in September 2019 and is delivering safety interventions along a 15.2km length of corridor between Wellsford and Warkworth. The safety improvements through the Dome Valley include widening the centre line and road side shoulders, adding right hand turn bays and installing flexible road safety barriers.

This stretch of road has a poor safety record. Seven people have died and more than 30 have been seriously injured in road crashes in the Dome Valley in the last five years. No deaths and serious injuries on our transport network are acceptable and making the road safer is one way we can save lives.

What we are doing

With more than 10,000 vehicles travelling through Dome Valley on any given day, it’s critical that we make it safe as soon as possible.

The project is being delivered in five stages (see map below) with stages 2 and 4 already complete. Stages 3 and 5 are scheduled to be completed in Spring 2022.

Work in these stages has included:

• Installing flexible median safety barriers to prevent head-on crashes and creating a wide centreline so there’s more space between oncoming vehicles.
• Making road shoulders wider throughout Dome Valley so it’s safer to pull over, if needed
• Adding new right turn bays at L Phillips Road/Sheepworld and at the Top of the Dome rest area to make it safer to turn.
• Replacing the northbound and southbound passing lanes at the top of the Dome Valley with wide shoulder so slow vehicles have room to pull over.

Stage 1 of the project is undergoing a redesign and is currently on hold.

Map

View larger map [PDF, 2.6 MB]