�ZTRANSPORT
AGENCY
Level 11, HSBC House
1 Queen Street
WAKA KOTAHI
Private Bag 106602
Auckland 1143
New Zealand
T 64 9 969 9800
F 64 9 969 9813
12 December 2017
www.nzta.govt.nz
Anita Easton
fyi-request-6 7 [email address]
Dear Anita,
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 23 October 2017 regarding the reasoning behind the 80km/h speed
restriction on Ngauranga Gorge.
There are two documents that fall within the scope of your request:
Document type
Document Title
Date
New Zealand
Bylaw Regulating the Speed of Vehicles on State Highway 15 February 2001
Gazette notice
No. 1, Ngauranqa Gorae
Research report
Effectiveness of Variable Mandatory Speed Signs within
2004
the Wellington ATMS, New Zealand - Transfund New
Zealand Research Report No 253
Please note that the Gazette notice is publicly available on the New Zealand Gazette website at:
https: //qazette.qovt.nz/notice / id /2001-au 10 31.
The speed limit in the Ngauranga Gorge is a variable speed limit. The minimum speed limit is set at
50km/h, but can be increased in l0km/h intervals up to a maximum of l00km/h.
The research paper specifically looks at the outcomes achieved by the variable speed limit, and has
been provided as Attachment 1.
The NZ Transport Agency understands that the use of the 80km/h speed limit, as allowed by the bylaw,
was predominantly established following a request from the NZ Police. The request was made after a
number of vehicles travelling up the Ngauranga Gorge lost control, resulting in severe injury crashes.
The Transport Agency apologises for the delay in getting this response to you. A number of historical
files were stored offsite and needed to be collected and reviewed in order to ensure there was no other
information available that was in scope of your request.