The $1.77b project will build a 16km four-lane highway near Karāpiro.
New Zealand's government has committed NZ$1.8 billion to extend the Waikato Expressway from Cambridge to Piarere, a corridor connecting the "golden triangle" (Auckland–Waikato–Tauranga) that accounts for 60% of national GDP. The investment targets a 70% reduction in deaths and serious injuries on one of NZ's most dangerous freight routes, reinforcing infrastructure as a lever for regional economic productivity.
The four-lane 16km expressway will connect the Waikato Expressway to SH29 at Piarere.
The near $1.8b funding for the Waikato Expressway's Cambridge to Piarere extension has left local and central government ecstatic.