15th Ave and Turret Rd are among areas the new project will focus on. Photo / File
15th Ave and Turret Rd are among areas the new project will focus on. Photo / File
Tauranga City Council is pumping an extra $3 million into transport planning - finding and testing solutions to the city's biggest transport issues.
But some have questioned what the project will deliver, who will wind up paying the bills and why the work is not being done by a jointtransport initiative.
The Urban Form and Transport Initiative, or UFTI, was set up by three Western Bay councils, via Smartgrowth, and the New Zealand Transport Agency to create a master plan for the region's transport network.
Christine Jones, general manager of strategy and growth at the Tauranga council, said the parties were revising their initial plan to split the costs, which was:
• 43 per cent NZTA
The remaining 57 per cent will be split three ways between the councils as follows: • 40 per cent Tauranga City Council • 40 per cent Bay of Plenty Regional Council • 20 per cent Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
Jones said some pieces of UFTI-related work were being funded and worked on separately.
On Tuesday Tauranga's council voted unanimously to put up $3m towards developing a transport system network plan that would feed into UFTI's work.
The project would look at solutions to big transport network issues. It would make sure decision-makers had solid information to consider when long-term transport funding discussions rolled around in 2021, and the council was ready to implement those decisions.
There will be a focus on five areas and routes:
• Turret Rd, 15th Ave, Route K network • Hewletts Rd sub area (generally Hewletts-Maunganui-Hull-Totara) • Eastern corridor (generally Bayfair/Baypark to Te Tumu) • Northern-Western corridor connections (SH2/SH29) • Barkes Corner to Baypark.
The unbudgeted spending will be funded by a 10-year loan.
Some could be paid off with any rates surplus at the end of this financial year, and the council is also trying to get money out of the NZTA, with no guarantees.
But any shortfall would end up on rates bills in the form of a debt retirement levy.
Councillor John Robson supported the project - "a cracking idea" - but not the levy: "If we don't get the funding, this is 2 per cent on the rates."
Mayor Greg Brownless said he expected the NZTA to "come to the party" because a lot of the work related to state highways.
Council chief executive Marty Grenfell said the council initially believed the work would be done as part of UFTI.
But as UFTI's scope was refined, the council realised some detailed work needed to be done more urgently.
UFTI leader Robert Brodnax said the two pieces of work were "interdependent and seamlessly integrated".
Phil Green of the Grace Rd and Neighbourhood Residents' Association. Photo / File
Both Grace Rd and Neighbourhood Residents' Association's Phil Green and Sustainable Business Network's Glen Crowther said they had thought UFTI would do the work.
Green was concerned a "piecemeal" approach might cause issues that would delay getting projects built.
"We seem to be revisiting report after report in this city and not getting any real tangible results."
Glen Crowther of the Sustainable Business Network. Photo / File
Crowther said UFTI was never going to deliver a blueprint for individual projects - where bus lanes should go or four lanes were needed, for example.
He supported the council trying to make sure nothing would "fall through the cracks" of the UFTI work and getting its own processes, resources and plans ready for action.
Most people - council staff included - recognised the council needed to change how it operated to make sure projects were delivered.
Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers' Association president Philip Brown. Photo / File
Philip Brown of Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers said the project would put "meat on the bones of the UFTI scheme".
"It's about building up resources in the council so they can actually do a project properly and deliver it.
"Whether the $3m is valid, it's impossible to say from the outside."
It was vital the council involve the local community in the project from the start, not wait until the end, he said.
Councillor Larry Baldock. Photo / File
Priorities poll: Cars, bikes or buses
In Tuesday's meeting councillor Larry Baldock presented the results of a poll he commissioned about transport priorities.
Some 700 Tauranga voters were interviewed in June about how transport investment should be prioritised.
Building roads received the highest ranking of 4.3 out of 5.
Public transport scored 3.4 and cycleways 2.8 out of 5.
Younger people were more likely to give cycleways a higher priority but support for public transport was similar across all age groups.
