Work begins next week on raising 440 metres of State Highway 2 by up to 1.8 metres in Whirinaki, marking the next construction phase in Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Whirinaki Flood Resilience Project.

This phase of the work will lift the highway to match the height of the new stopbanks being built to both upgrade and extend Whirinaki’s flood resilience. The project is supported by the Government’s North Island Weather Events (NIWE) ~$1.7 billion programme. It is one of seven major flood resilience projects underway in Hawke’s Bay to recategorise high-risk areas identified after Cyclone Gabrielle and is one of two projects (Ōhiti Road being the other) to start construction so far in 2026 and the third regionally.

Regional Council Chair, Sophie Siers says, “This project reflects the significant effort underway to recategorise Land Cat 2 properties after Cyclone Gabrielle. With support from the Government’s NIWE programme, we’re now able to progress critical works that will better safeguard people and property.”

To keep traffic moving during construction, Fulton Hogan, the appointed contractor for the State highway works, has built a temporary bypass road running parallel to State Highway 2, near the entrances to the Contact Energy generation site and Transpower substation.

Traffic will be diverted onto the bypass on Monday 12 January which will allow two-way traffic to flow at a reduced speed of 50km/h for the three-month construction period.

Chair Siers says minimising disruption while progressing critical flood resilience work has been a key focus. “State Highway 2 is a critical connection between Napier, Hastings, the Pan Pac mill and Wairoa, and ensuring traffic can continue to flow efficiently during construction has been a key requirement for Council and NZTA.”

The next phase of construction includes a bypass road for North Shore Road as the road is raised, to tie into the new stopbank that will extend to the coast with further stopbanks extending around the Pan Pac site.

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