$75M Boost for Waioweka Gorge Resilience in Budget 2026

State Highway 2 through Waioweka Gorge will receive a $75 million resilience upgrade in the Government’s Budget 2026 infrastructure package. East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick says the investment will help keep a critical transport lifeline open more often.

This is part of a wider $400 million for state highway resilience projects nationwide.

Kirkpatrick said the gorge route was vital for freight, primary industries and communities across Tairāwhiti and the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

“Anyone who lives on the East Coast or in the Eastern BOP knows how important SH2 through the Waioweka Gorge is. When it closes, the impacts are felt right across our region,” she said.

“SH2 through the Waioweka Gorge carries around 1700 vehicles every day, with more than one in five of those being freight trucks moving goods to and from the region.”

The upgrades are expected to include slope stabilisation, rockfall protection, drainage improvements and targeted works at vulnerable sections between Ōpōtiki and Matawai.

Kirkpatrick said the investment would focus on improving the road’s reliability during severe weather events.

“Essentially, the work and the funds will go towards work that will ensure the road will be able to stay open more often,” she said.

“So we think about things like much bigger culverts, rock and debris protection walls, and perhaps some realignment of small sections.”

Slip in the Waioweka Gorge caused by severe weather earlier this year. IMAGE // NZTA

The gorge has faced repeated weather-related closures in recent years, including a three-week shutdown earlier this year.

Kirkpatrick said closures had major economic consequences for the region.

“It was costing about $8 million a day when that road was closed in economic return to the region,” she said.

“This money will help alleviate the cost of that because the road will not need to be closed as often as it has been up until now.”

She said resilience work already underway in the gorge was separate from the new funding package.

“When the storm happens, and the crews go in there to restore access ... they are required to restore it to the state that the road was in prior to the storm,” she said.

“We announced earlier on $8 million to be spent before the end of 2026 on 312 culverts and some flood work to make sure that streams and all those tributaries go into the river, not across the road.”

Kirkpatrick said the new $75 million package would fund additional resilience upgrades once design and tendering work had been completed.

Federated Farmers welcomed the investment, saying rural communities had repeatedly faced disruption from severe weather.

Federated Farmers infrastructure spokesperson Mark Hooper said the organisation had long pushed for greater investment in rural roads and regional freight routes.

“It’s very pleasing that in a tight Budget the Government has found $400 million to tackle drainage, slope stabilisation and rockfall protection at known weak spots, such as the Waioweka Gorge,” he said.

“We can’t continue to see communities like the East Coast or Golden Bay cut off every time a major rain event occurs.”

Hooper said repeated repairs to vulnerable roads were costly and longer-term planning was needed.

“The cost of repeated highway and rural road patch-ups quickly mounts,” he said.

Kirkpatrick acknowledged the upgrades would not eliminate closures entirely.

“We can’t stop severe weather from happening, but we can be much better prepared for it,” she said.

“These upgrades won’t stop every closure, but they will help make this vital lifeline route more reliable for the people, businesses and freight operators who depend on it every day.”