The Government expects the Waikato Expressway, a four-lane road linking Auckland to Cambridge, to be completed by 2020.
The New Zealand Transport Agency on Friday announced that work on the Te Rapa section of the expressway will begin in September this year, costing $168 million.
The Te Rapa section of the expressway is one of seven still to be completed in a project that will have cost an estimated $2.4 billion by the time it is finished.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce says three sections will be under way by the end of next year and the remaining sections are in the design and planning stage. The goal remains completion in 10 years.
Waikato district mayor Peter Harris says the news is tremendous for the region's economy.
The head of road policing in Waikato, Inspector Leo Tooman, says the work will mean less head-on crashes and fatalities on one of the country's busiest roads.
