SH33 Speed Survey Due Now!

5 February 2026

SH33 Mourea to Okere Falls Speed Consultation

 

Make sure you and your family and friends have your say!

Submissions on the speed limit proposal for SH33 between Mourea and Okere Falls must be in by Tuesday 17 February 2026.

A link to the online survey is provided at the end of these instructions.

 

For those who would prefer 60 km/h

The survey gives you the option of either 80 or 100 km/h without an option of 60 km/h preventing a large portion of our community from supporting their preferred option.

It is important that you follow these instructions if you want to support 60 km/h.

 

Recommendation

Todd McClay's Office recommends that supporters of 60 km/h for this section of SH33 complete the online survey questions as follows.

 

What do you think of the proposed speed zone?

Select:

"I have concerns about the proposal"

and then indicate in the Comments section that you would prefer the speed to be 60 km/h

 

Why do you think this?

Select:

• "The speed should be lowered further than what is proposd

• Improved safety for everyone using the road

• Safer to negotiate the entrances in the area

• Safer speed between two communities

• Will be safer for those cycling, walking and crossing this road

• Will result in fewer crashes with reduced severity and near misses"

 

Comments

Comment along the following lines in the space provided.

Personalise as you wish.

"60 km/h is my preferred speed for this section to match the adjoining sections. I support LRCA's submission to this effect.

A consistent 60 km/h for this section of SH 33 from Mourea to Okere Falls is essential for the following reasons:

• To remove the risk of drivers proceeding beyond the section at unsafe speeds

• To align with NZTA speed management guidelines to reduce frequent speed changes and the confusion and risks that they cause

• This would improve the safety for locals and visitors to: Whangamarino School, Okere Falls and Okere Falls Cafe and Kaituna adventure and tourism activities, the public boat ramp and the Mourea and Te Takinga Marae area

• To reduce the noise and environmental impacts - especially from heavy traffic - on Lake uses and the Lake community".

 

On Line Survey

  Click this Link to to go the survey.

 

Thank you for your contribution!

Thank you to Todd McClay's Office and NZTA for your assistance!

 

Background

Link to LRCA Submission to Previous Consultation

Link to Whangamarino School Submission

LRCA Supporters of 60 km/h Comments

Examples of our members comments when they responded to our survey in favour of 60 km/h follow:

Many people go to the Store, and have to cross the road if they come by boat. Dangerous

It is a short distance and it is much safer to be 60kph. Multiple changed of speed are confusing.

It has always confused us as to why this section is at a different speed to the rest of the road from Hamurana Road to Okere Falls. The current signage is also very easy to miss even when you know a speed limit change is approaching

There are varying speed limits here currently - 60- 80-60-80. This is a busy area with a school, the cafe (and it's traffic), rafting, the boat ramp - lots of people crossing roads. One slower speed limit seems sensible and fit-for-purpose instead of going 60-100-60-100, let's just go 60km for this small stretch of road which is essentially going through the Okere village.

It’s odd and kindof silly to have that very small section of road at a higher speed- many vehicles don’t even get up to the speed before they have to slow down again - it’s confusing and inappropriate

Safety around the area as at times there is many cars and pedestrians

My preference would be 70 kph all the way through

To prevent dangerous overtaking of other vehicles

To keep the speed the same as it makes no sense to increase the speed for such a short section of road especially butting up to Whangamarino School

It is confusing to have the small section at a different speed and the slower 60km speed sits well with the mixed and high use (houses, boats, school, people).

Too much inconsistency, causing confusion and unnecessary fines

I believe the 60kph section is now too long, however if the sections are to remain the same then increasing to 80kph for only 850m is not necessary and as mentioned adds to confusion.

I believe the 60kph section is now too long, however if the sections are to remain the same then increasing to 80kph for only 850m is not necessary and as mentioned adds to confusion.

This is a very busy area with a school , Okere falls Store and Beer garden , road side lake access and housing .

It is an extremely busy winding road used by commercial vehicles , huge trucks as well as local and tourist traffic.

Consistency is the key.

safety, no confusion with multiple speed limit changes in short order

It is confusing to have so many speed zones in such a short distance.

It's too short a section. A better answer would be to raise a set of this back to the old limit, but having this short section at 80 or 100 is unnecessarily confusing.

The small 80 KM section should change to 60KM, so it would be 60 KM all the way along this section as there are houses, shops, boat ramp and a hotel. In addition the road has many bends and the high number of logging trucks on this road makes increases risk for people living along the road and people using the lake.

Only sensible conclusion.

Saves lives, children present.

Too short a distance between limits

To have consistency on a small stretch of highway and not lead to confusion for drivers.

It is too short a section to effectively raise and then lower your speed. Having a limit over 60 just leads to vehicles driving too fast through the adjacent communities. It is right next to a school. The addition of a virtually unridable cycle path here makes the road even narrower. It might protect pedestrians but Un suspended cyclists can either risk spoke damage and bone rattling or the wrath of drivers. Not so bad at 60km/hr. Also they have just proven that brake dust is worse for your health than most of the other vehicle emissions that they estimate kill about 1500 NZers a year. Why would we choose to dump this pollution at Waimarino school.

It is too small a section to have a speed change.

High "touristy" traffic on confusing short stretch

Safer for our tamariki

Drivers have adapted well to the lower speed limits.

It's a know brainer, why not with 60kph on both sides it only 850m.

The short distance changes in speed confuse some. In fact, I think changing the whole Okawa bay to Whangamario school section to 70Kmh may be more palatable to many. Many people already do 65 - 70kmh on this section. I travel this road almost daily.

It takes some time for people to slow down. Once they have done this then they usually stick to the speed limit which means Okere Falls and Mourea remain safer lower speed zones. Given the amount of foot traffic - in particular for Okere Falls this is the best option to keep our communities safe. The increase of children now living in Okere falls has increased exponentially. This community has moved from being just a bach area to permanent dwellers. This coupled with the increase in tourism should be taken into account for slower speed zones. It becomes impossible for travellers to slow down quickly enough around the boat ramp area where trailered vehicles are pulling out extremely slowly - potentially into a 100km zone which is an accident waiting to happen. Same applies when coming into Okere Falls around the School zone. We also own a property 200m south of the change from 100km to 60km (north Okere) - we see trucks and cars doing exceeding the speed limit of 60kph by up to 40kph and this is right next to the slower moving vans and buses at the put in for the Kaituna awa trips.

Consistent speed limit safer, there is foot traffic in this area, accelerating thru this stretch is also wasteful of petrol, increasing risk with n benefit

Makes absolute sense, and there are a lot people(especially young people) who frequent this part of SH 33

Too short to be any other speed

The locations of the speed limit changes make no sense and it is easy to miss the signs. If the 80km section can't be made longer, then it makes sense to just have a single speed limit.