Highway speed limit reductions welcomed

Tuesday, 8 December 2020

Stretches of SH6 between Nelson and Blenheim will have speed limits as low as 60kmh, with other areas reducing from 100kmh to 90kmh or 80kmh.

Upcoming changes to the speed limit on State Highway 6 between Nelson and Blenheim have been commended by Nelson councillors.

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) told the Nelson regional transport committee in September last year that speeds along the 110km stretch of highway would be reduced “around Christmas” that year.

On Monday chair of the transport committee councillor Brian McGurk said he “commended Waka Kotahi” for “finally making the decision to reduce the speed limits from SH6 from Nelson to Blenheim”.

The speed reductions include reductions from the Nelson urban boundary to the summit of the Rai Saddle “generally from 100kmh to 80 kmh”, and further reductions down to 60kmh between Teal Valley Rd over the Whangamoa Saddle and a variable school zone at Hira School.

The new speed limits on the stretch of SH6 between Nelson and Blenheim come into effect on December 18.

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The speed limit changes will come into effect on December 18. Many road signs along the route already have speed limits covered in preparation for the change.

McGurk said the changes were “overdue and welcomed” in his chairman's report.

Between 2006 and 2016, 20 people died and 93 were seriously injured on the highway.

“There will be very few people in Nelson who aren't personally affected by someone wo has been killed or injured on that stretch of the road, and I speak personally for this because I remember Andrew Martin very well,” he said.

“It has been a long time coming and I think that a person's life is worth far more than a few extra minutes taken on the journey and as promised, in by Christmas.”