The reversal of blanket speed limit reductions will start tonight night and be completed by July 1.
The National and Act coalition agreement committed to reversing the reductions put in place under the previous Labour government.
Thirty-eight sections of the state highway network would be reversed to their previous higher speed limits by the New Zealand Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi over the next five months.
The changes will take effect in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu-Whanganui, Greater Wellington, Canterbury and the top of the South Island.
The first road to be changed is State Highway 2 in Wairarapa. There are no sections of road in the lower South Island that are being changed from today.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and newly-appointed Transport Minister Chris Bishop made the announcement near Featherston on SH2 this morning.
"To ensure this process happens efficiently, over the next few months NZTA will incorporate the automatic speed reversal work alongside planned maintenance and project works," Bishop said.
A further 49 sections of state highway may change and would be put out for public consultation so "local communities can have their say on keeping their current lower speed limit or returning to the previous higher speed," he said.
Public consultation on those roads would run for six weeks from tomorrow.
The only highway in the South to be included for consultation is the Milford Road (State Highway 94). It is proposed that the speed limit increase from 80km/h to 100km/h west of the Homer Tunnel West Portal to east of the Deep Water Basin access.
"By 1 July 2026, local streets outside a school will be required to have a 30km/h variable speed limit. Rural roads that are outside schools will be required to have variable speed limits of 60km/h or less," Bishop said.
"National campaigned on reversing the blanket speed limit reductions at the last election, and over 65 percent of submitters during consultation on the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2024, agreed.
"Today provides a classic example of our Government's determination to stop letting government agencies put things in the too-hard basket, and instead to push forward for actual results."
Transport rules were "complicated and technical", he said, which is why it would take five months to get all speed limit reductions reversed.
It has taken the coalition more than a year in government to announce the move. Bishop said it was now a case of changing the rule put in by former Labour transport minister Michael Wood to reduce the speeds.
"It's taken a few months to go through the categories of roads and work out what falls in and what doesn't," he told reporters in Featherston today.
In regards to the 49 stretches of road up for consultation, he said "there will be differing views in the communities" and time would be taken to hear all that feedback.
Bishop insisted it was "safe to do these changes".
"The number one factor driving deaths on our roads is drugs and alcohol."
The coalition was passing drug-driving legislation in coming weeks that will introduce roadside saliva drug testing and fund 50,000 tests to police each year.
In addition, the government was investing heavily in breath testing and setting performance targets around that, he said, and investing in safer roads.
The NZTA was responsible for making the changes and Bishop said it was "working really hard to make sure we deliver on this".
Changes to South Island highways
South Island highways for consultation
