Speed limit changes around Auckland Speed limit changes around Auckland

To make our roads safer and to reduce deaths and serious injuries, the new Speed Limits Bylaw came into force on 30 June 2020.

Download the Auckland Transport Speed Limits Bylaw 2022 (PDF 964KB, 45 pages)

Speed limit changes and the urban traffic area in Auckland from 30 June 2020

Or search a list of all the roads that are included in the Speed Limits Bylaw 2019.

Project status: Bylaw approved - new speed limits from 30 June 2020
Project zone: Waitematā, Franklin, Rodney local board areas and on 75 other roads across the region

Project overview

Too many people are dying or being seriously injured with life-changing and life-long consequences in Auckland. In 2019, 40 people were killed on the region’s roads (30% of which were speed related deaths) and 567 people were seriously injured.

2019 Auckland road deaths and serious injuries statistics.

One of the most effective ways of minimising road trauma involves reducing vehicle speeds. That’s because speed determines both the likelihood of a crash occurring and the severity of the outcome.

In October 2019, the Board of Auckland Transport passed the Speed Limits Bylaw (2019). The bylaw allows AT to set safe and appropriate speeds on roughly 700km of roads in areas which pose the greatest safety risk to people.

Download the Speed Limits Bylaw 2019 made by the Auckland Transport Board of Directors on 22 October 2019 (PDF 20MB, 156 pages)

These roads are located in the rural local board areas of Rodney and Franklin and in the urban local board area of Waitematā. 75 other roads in the following local board areas will also have new speed limits: Waitākere Ranges, Henderson-Massey, Upper Harbour, Howick, Hibiscus and Bays, Māngere-Ōtāhuhu and Papakura.

Why these roads were selected

The roads have been selected based on several criteria, namely their risk of death or serious injury as well as those with large numbers of vulnerable road users like people walking, children and the elderly. 90% of the roads we plan to reduce the speeds of are rural roads. The remaining are made up of the city centre, town centres and residential roads.

The criteria for speed reductions is dependent on the road type:

Type of road	Reason for speed reductions
Rural roads	Approximately 90% of the total area we are reducing the speeds of are rural roads. They have been selected because they: are either high-risk roads or close to high-risk roads have high crash rates or are close to roads with high crash rates have speed limits which are unsuitable – they could be winding, hilly or have unsegregated lanes it is not possible to drive to the current posted speed due to the road’s layout don’t have a centre median strip. We are introducing safe and appropriate speeds across areas rather than individual roads.
Residential and urban roads	These roads have been selected because they have: large numbers of vulnerable road users (people walking and cycling) they’re often near schools, kindergartens and other community facilities concerns raised by the community.
Town centres and Auckland city centre	These areas have been selected because: this is where the highest number of vulnerable road users are – (people walking and cycling) population increases mean more people are walking and cycling in these areas reducing speeds here has the greatest potential to reduce the chance of serious injuries and deaths occurring especially among vulnerable road users.

Type of road

Reason for speed reductions

Rural roads

Approximately 90% of the total area we are reducing the speeds of are rural roads.

They have been selected because they:

are either high-risk roads or close to high-risk roads
have high crash rates or are close to roads with high crash rates
have speed limits which are unsuitable – they could be winding, hilly or have unsegregated lanes
it is not possible to drive to the current posted speed due to the road’s layout
don’t have a centre median strip.

We are introducing safe and appropriate speeds across areas rather than individual roads.

Residential and urban roads

These roads have been selected because they have:

large numbers of vulnerable road users (people walking and cycling)
they’re often near schools, kindergartens and other community facilities
concerns raised by the community.

Town centres and Auckland city centre

These areas have been selected because:

this is where the highest number of vulnerable road users are – (people walking and cycling)
population increases mean more people are walking and cycling in these areas
reducing speeds here has the greatest potential to reduce the chance of serious injuries and deaths occurring especially among vulnerable road users.

Some ‘self-explaining’ roads, or sections of roads, have been included. These are areas where the road conditions already cause drivers to travel at a lower speed – such as winding rural roads and some urban areas with speed bumps to help driver choose a safe speed.

Other initiatives we are working on to improve road safety

In addition to reviewing speed limits, we are implementing a comprehensive road safety programme that will complement lower speeds across Auckland, which includes:

Residential road safety improvements, including engineering measures like speed tables or humps, kerb buildouts and raised intersections.
Town centre safety improvements, including a combination of speed limit reductions, signage, speed tables or humps, and raised intersections.
Setting new urban traffic boundaries, with more appropriate speeds for newly developed residential areas.
Implementing safe speeds in Waitemata, Rodney, Franklin and 100 roads across Auckland region.

The wider road safety programme is partly enabled by the Regional Fuel Tax.

Read the Speed limit change programme July interim monitoring update (PDF 355KB).

Next steps

Due to the scale of the change with new road signage and traffic calming measures being installed, the Safe Speeds Bylaw will be introduced in a phased approach. The first phase starts 30 June 2020. The second phase begins 30 November 2020 (town centres – Orewa, Mairangi Bay, Torbay) and June 2021 – town centres of West Lynn, St Heliers Bay and Mission Bay.

Latest updates

20 December 2021

From the first half of 2022, AT will seek public feedback on a third phase of proposed safe speed limits. This includes reviewing speed limits on approximately 1418 km of roads (19% of the AT road network) for possible reductions.

Read the media release: Savings lives in Tāmaki Makaurau: Public consultation approved for third phase of safe speed limits.

2 June 2020

New and safe speed limits on more than 600 roads across Auckland will come into force from 30 June 2020 onwards.

Read the media release: Safe speeds in Auckland - on their way from 30 June 2020.

22 October 2019

After considering nearly 12,000 public submissions and reviewing technical reports, Auckland Transport’s board approved a bylaw today - which will reduce speed limits on around 10% of Auckland’s urban and rural roads. Read the media release for more information.

16 October 2019

On Tuesday 22 October, Auckland Transport's board of directors will consider the proposed Speed Limits Bylaw 2019.
Information about the proposed bylaw is available at AT board reports for meeting of 22 October 2019 (Item 13.1).

4 September 2019

Auckland Transport is taking more time to consider a proposal to reduce speeds on some of the high-risk roads in the region.

Read the latest update.

18 July 2019

Auckland Transport’s Board of Directors will now deliberate on the proposed Bylaw on or before 30 September 2019.

Read the latest update.

10 June 2019

Update on the proposed Speed Limits Bylaw submissions and feedback process.

Read the latest update.

1 April 2019

Feedback is now closed. We have received more than 11,700 submissions. We are currently analysing the feedback from public. The consultation analysis report will be available in August 2019.

Hearings were held on 15-16 April for those who requested to present their views to AT in person. This session was open to the public.

Read the media release: Thousands have their say on speed bylaw.

Public consultation

We wanted you to let us know what you think about the new speed limits we are proposing to set (by bylaw) for roads under our control. The consultation period ran from 28 February until 31 March 2019 and 11,722 submissions were received. The feedback provided has been summarised in the documents below:

View the other documents submitted to the AT Board for consideration as part of this process (AT Board Report item 13.1).

We issued a Statement of Proposal which outlines the details of our proposal to introduce a speed limits bylaw.