Road changes will be unveiled for Te Rapa’s Wairere Drive from Thursday as part of resource consent requirements to enable the construction of a new PAK’nSAVE on Karewa Place, including an intersection upgrade and a speed limit reduction.
When looking at the various transport impacts a new supermarket would create, an independent commissioner found that traffic signals were necessary at the intersection of Wairere Drive and Karewa Place, Hamilton City Council said in a statement announcing the traffic changes. They also required a roundabout to be constructed at the intersection of Eagle Way and Karewa Place.
To ensure the new signalised intersection is safe for drivers, the speed limit on Wairere Drive between Pukete Road and Arthur Porter Drive will be lowered from 80km/h to 60km/h from Thursday 30 April.
Councillors approved the speed limit reduction change, following consultation with the community, where 64% of respondents supported the speed reduction.
“Foodstuffs North Island are installing the traffic lights to allow a right turn into (but not out of) Karewa Place from Wairere Drive. During construction, Wairere Drive will have traffic restrictions in place. We will update the community via the Antenno app, and you can stay up to date with road impacts on our roadworks page,” Council stated.
“This work is scheduled to start on 4 May 2026 and will take about 12 weeks to complete. The roundabout work will follow at a later date, and all construction is funded by Foodstuffs.”
