Letters: Transpower plan, roading folly

A mock-up of how the 35m (left) and 45m (far side of bridge) poles will look from 1 Miriana St. Image / Supplied

Powerline folly

Auckland may be getting a supersized Earth Mother statue at Bastion Point.

Tauranga will be going one better with a quarter-scale rendition of the Golden Gate suspension bridge, courtesy of Trustpower. A magnificent 152-feet tower will be built at the end of Maungatapu and another at Matapihi to hold up three high voltage electricity cables sweeping majestically 1000m across the harbour.

Transpower's photo montage partially reproduced in the Bay of Plenty Times shows improbably slender towers and almost invisible wires. Our regional council and local city council have already rubber-stamped this proposal. Our two opposition MPs are strangely silent on the matter. Is it a coincidence that the chair of Trustpower is our ex MP Tony Ryall?

When viewed from the city or Welcome Bay it will appear as if the Maungatapu bridge is being suspended by the catenary curve of the conductors. Could I suggest Fawlty Towers as a suitable name for this folly?

Ross Ogle
Greerton

Time to stop the madness

Stop this madness, the time for procrastinating is over.

If the latest traffic routing trial at Maungatapu/Welcome Bay hasn't confirmed what the travelling public has been telling Tauranga City Council's roading engineers for some time now, that is the major problem with the whole area is the single lane bridge at Hairini, then nothing will.

The recently completed Maungatapu underpass project was designed primarily to reduce the traffic using State Highway 29, going by the latest trial you would have to say it was a failure.

The patience of Welcome Bay commuters has been tested then relieved, for a short spell, but the frustration levels are getting back up there after the latest shambles. The solution that the council is trying to identify on this project is staring them in the face.

Mark Bougen
Welcome Bay