Mt Messenger update Feb 26  2026

Here’s a look at our most recent fly-over of Te Ara o Te Ata – Mt Messenger Bypass project in Taranaki, the new 6-kilometre route we’re constructing on State Highway 3 that’ll replace the existing steep, narrow and winding route over Mt Messenger.

We’ve made solid progress this construction season (September 2025 to April 2026) with key features of the project like the tunnel and bridge, despite the mixed weather making some work more difficult.

In late October we finished the top header of the new 235-metre-long tunnel. Following this in late January we finished the bottom section, rounding out all the excavation works for the tunnel.

This project is unique as it was the first New Zealand roading build to use a cableway to carry workers, machinery and materials into remote areas of the project. Now that the tunnel is fully excavated and strengthened we’re no longer needing the cableway to access the northern parts of the project as the team can use the tunnel instead. We’ll be dismantling the cableway from March this year.

Roadworkers are also nearly set up to install the piers (legs) on the first of two new bridges. The first bridge will be a 125-metre-long steel box girder structure, with a concrete deck sitting on raked steel supports that will minimise impact on the wetland below. Both bridges have been designed to be resilient, low maintenance and long-lasting.

3:30                                                                                                         26/2/26