Judea office manager John Ward thinks it would be beneficial to have a safe way for people to cross Takitimu Drive near 15th Ave. Photo / Andrew Warner
A Tauranga man was last night fighting for his life after being hit on a road locals say is notorious for pedestrians running the gauntlet with traffic.
It has also emerged that police raised concerns with the council about the stretch of Takitimu Drive last year.
The 31-year-old victim was crossing Takitimu Drive (State Highway 2) near the 15th Ave overpass on Wednesday night when a southbound vehicle came around a bend and hit him.
He was last night in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital.
Bay of Plenty Times inquiries have revealed widespread concern about people crossing the busy road.
Business owners in Judea said people often dashed across the road as a shortcut to 16th Ave and 17th Ave. They agreed some sort of pedestrian access from the end of Koromiko St to the bottom of 16th or 17th Ave was needed.
There is no pedestrian crossing in the area, and there are barriers on the Judea side of the expressway and in the middle of the road separating the lanes.
Paramount Stainless office manager John Ward told the Bay of Plenty Times he had worked in the area for 30 years and used to bike to work from Greerton, taking the path from the end of 16th Ave across to the bottom of Koromiko St, before the expressway was built.
It was a popular track for walkers and cyclists before it was blocked off, he said. Now people walked along a grass track that ran behind the last building on Koromiko St toward the expressway and across the road from there.
"We see quite a lot of people walking along here [Koromiko St] and you think 'where are they going?' but I know where they're going. They scoot over, under the underpass and scoot over the other side."
People could safely cross the expressway in three places - up the Waihi Rd/11th Ave overpass or over the two pedestrian bridges near 8th Ave and the Tauranga Domain - but Mr Ward said they were too far away to be of benefit to him or those who worked nearby.
"It would be beneficial to have something to walk or bike over for people that work here [Judea] ... rather than going all the way along to 11th Ave and around."
A pedestrian crossing would also benefit people at the Historic Village and the skatepark on 17th Ave, he said.
One business owner, who spoke on condition he was not named, said he saw people crossing the expressway "all the time" to get to work early in the morning.
"People push their bikes under the highway because there's no other way over."
It was a "no-brainer" to put in a safe path for people to cross under the 15th Ave overpass, he said.
Senior Sergeant Ian Campion told the Bay of Plenty Times he was aware of people crossing Takitimu Drive under 15th Ave from time to time but said Wednesday's incident was the first time to his knowledge a pedestrian had been hit.
Mr Campion said he alerted Tauranga City Council to the issue some time in the past year.
"We identified that there was an issue there and took it to the roading authorities."
Council communication adviser Marcel Currin confirmed Mr Campion had contacted transport manager Martin Parkes last year but did not know the result of the discussions.
The issue had been on the council's radar but had not gone any further, as far as Mr Currin knew.
Mr Campion contacted the New Zealand Transport Agency yesterday and would meet senior safety engineer Adam Francis later this month to discuss possible solutions.