Cost of Ōtaki to north of Levin highway nears $2b

Levin will be bypassed by the Ōtaki to north of Levin highway. (Image: NZTA)

Tue, 01 Jul 2025

Transport officials won’t disclose the topped up budget, but BusinessDesk understands a new highway in the lower North Island is approaching $2 billion.When it was included in the New Zealand Upgrade Programme under the last Government in 2020, the 24-kilometre Ōtaki to North of Levin project was estimated to cost $817 million.By 2021, when the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) gave the project a benefit-cost ratio of 1.2, this had increased to as much as $1.5b.In May, when the agency went out to the community with several cost-saving p...

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