The system will mean the usual open road speed limit of 100kmh will drop to 70kmh if there is a vehicle waiting at the intersection to turn on to State Highway 1 or if a vehicle pulls into the turning bay on SH1 to turn on to the Boulders road.
The NZTA received 73 submissions on the variable speed proposal, with over two-thirds supporting the proposed changes, NZTA southern business unit manager Ian Duncan said in a statement yesterday.
''The new variable limit will help reduce the severity of crashes at the SH-Moeraki Boulders Rd turnoff by lowering the speed of highway traffic.''
Locals called for changes to the area after a 39-year-old Chinese woman was killed in a three-car crash at the turnoff last November. Her death was the fifth in two years on SH1 near the tourist hot spot.
The NZTA said speed restriction would apply 170m either side of Moeraki Boulders Rd.
On the day submissions closed, April 7, a car and camper van collided at the intersection.
Once installed, an electronic system would activate when a vehicle on State Highway 1 approached the right turn bay, or a vehicle was waiting to turn right on to the highway from Moeraki Boulders Rd. Signs on either side of the intersection would display the 70kmh speed limit, the NZTA statement says.
At all other times the limit would remain 100kmh.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said drivers would have started to ignore a fixed speed limit of 70kmh. The Waitaki District Council formally requested ''urgent action'' after the November fatality.
Mr Kircher said the council would continue to press for improvements in the area.
''Certainly Moeraki is not our only danger area, but it's good to see some progress at least.''
A $3million to $5million wider programme of safety improvements along SH1 between the Waitaki Bridge and Dunedin was planned to start in mid-2018, the NZTA statement said.
