The signs at the Te Moana Road interchange give you a choice of Ewy North or Ewy South, but the only Ewy shown on internet maps is one in Poland, shown below, which is over 17,000 km from Waikanae and is tiny.

But you can definitely travel as far as Peka Peka on the four lane road opened to traffic on 24 February 2017 and as far as Raumati South where it connects with a 4-lane which has been there for decades.

The ‘Ewy’ had the effect on traffic patterns that was predicted of it. Nearly everyone travelling from Raumati and further south to Waikanae travels over it, as do those travelling north of Waikanae. But the old SH1, now the Main Road, didn’t die and it continues to see a lot of traffic, although most of it originates and ends locally.

At the time we were impressed with the non-straight trajectory and designed undulations and still are. Also impressive was the amount of tree and shrub planting done north of Paraparaumu (Kapiti Road interchange) on the east side and around the Te Moana Road interchange. Most of it has grown to become significant in ‘greening’ the appearance.

Not liked, however, was the amount of remedial work required to fix surface deterioration that caused bumpy sections, and sound deadening measures required for the bridges. These seemed to be an almost constant feature of the first 2 years or so.

But all seems well now.