A heated debate in Parliament over a stretch of road near Tauranga ended with the Transport Minister being asked to commit to driving the road himself.
State Highway 2 between Katikati and Tauranga has seen numerous serious crashes and deaths.
In the last six years to March 2018, 21 people have been killed on the 37-kilometre stretch of road between Katikati and Tauranga.
In Question Time today, National MP Jami-Lee Ross asked Mr Twyford: "Why did he make the funding decision to reduce the State highway improvement budget... a project that would have saved lives on a stretch of road that has seen 86 serious and death crashes in the recent past years?"
Mr Twyford rejected that he made the decision, and said he agreed "with the people of Tauranga that we need to fix the bloody road, the number of crashes is unacceptable".
"We are investing $65 million right now on State Highway 2 between Waihī and Ōmokoroa to make this stretch of road safer."
Hundreds of campaigners marched across Wairoa Bridge today.
It comes after protesters blocked part of the road in Tauranga on the weekend, calling for major safety upgrades.
Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller asked the Minister to commit to driving from Ōmokoroa to Tauranga, "to experience first-hand that road, like my constituents do every day?"
"I can't commit to that," Mr Twyford said. "Because I am busy making sure that the Transport Agency... gets on with re-evaluating that project so that we can make the safety improvements on that highway that that Government failed to do over nine years and has spent the last nine months scaremongering about."
$100 million will be spent on safety between Waihi and Omokoroa, but protesters say a four-lane highway must be built.
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