For residents, the condition of the road has long been a source of frustration and anger, with the road condition this year again bringing their concerns to a head.
At a public meeting held in June, residents claimed the condition of the road was dangerous, predicted serious accidents and expressed frustration that their long-standing concerns had not resulted in comprehensive rehabilitation.
Earlier this year, the council completed six weeks of work on the road to ‘hold’ the pavement over winter. This included heavy patching - digging up the uneven surfaces and laying asphalt – to improve safety and maintain the road as best as possible in the short term.
“We know that our Te Puke community are unhappy with the condition of this road and the safety risks it brings, and so are we,” says the council’s general manager infrastructure group, Cedric Crow.
“Widening it and redoing the parts that have reached the end of their life will be very beneficial for those who use No 1 Rd.”
In June, the council applied for funding from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to subsidise a shared pathway as part of the work, but this was declined because there are currently inadequate funds available from the National Land Transport Fund, although funding may be available in the future.
“If we were to proceed with the full programme of work right now for No 1 Rd, we’d have a funding gap of at least 50 per cent,” says Cedric.
“The shared pathway is still a priority for council.”
At last week’s meeting councillor Andy Wichers asked why it was proposed to have a road width of 8m on section 2.
Senior transportation engineer Calum McLean said there were two reasons.
“Section 2 is where [the road] transitions into urban, so you wouldn’t expect it to be as wide. The second reason is, with the speed management plan, we are probably going to reduce the speed on No 1 Rd.”
Staggering the work over the next two summers was to take account of the design and construction capacity of contractors.
“Also, there’s a limit to what you can do on No 1 Rd because you start interfering with the kiwifruit traffic so you need to break it down into smaller sections so you can do it in the time available to us before kiwifruit trucks start moving up and down the road,” said Calum.
Andy said getting to this point had been a long drawn-out process.
“But council staff have really stepped up. The pitchforks have been put away and there’s a good feeling on the road.”
Local resident Kylie Griffin, who started the No 1 Residents and Users Facebook page to channel concerns, said she was underwhelmed by the decision.
“It’s basically just repairing the road and making provision for widening later on down the track.
“This could have been done without all the public consultation and the meetings - it’s the bare minimum of what should have been done.”
She said the worst section won’t be rehabilitated until 2024-5.
“That’s a long way away.”
Initial plans were to rehabilitate the lower section of No 1 Rd in 2019 but works were postponed until Tauranga City Council had constructed the Waiari trunk watermain. The watermain project was completed in 2020.
Kylie said she believes the condition the road was left in contributed to the problems.
“They didn’t repaint, didn’t put the cats’ eyes back, didn’t put roadside reflectors back, so we’ve been driving in the dark on a narrow road and when potholes started developing, that’s when it became really dangerous.”
Another resident, Tracey Wallace-Hutchins, said she was disappointed both sections could not be completed at the same time and also with the road width of section 2.
“I understand the logic in that is suggesting that the narrow section transitions to section 1 which is more residential. I reckon that is flawed logic because it is a lot narrower than 8m now and it does not slow the traffic.”
She said she would also prefer to see both sections completed at the same time.
“It’s brilliant that the decision has been made to get on with it before next harvest season and if they can do that then I don’t really see why they couldn’t include section 2 with section 3.”
Tracey said she would also like to also see safer bus stop provision for school buses.
Mihi Hapi, who featured in Te Puke Times speaking about the dangers caused by the condition of the road, said the work had been a long time coming.
“I think if it had stayed any longer [as it is] there would definitely have been some kind of accident - I know I’ve nearly had a couple.
“It’s necessary for the safety of every road user and that’s the most important thing.”
The widening of the remaining three sections of road and the creation of a separate 3m shared pathway will be revisited after the rehabilitation works.
