State Highway 2 traffic: Hundreds of drivers using local roads to skip Ōmokoroa to Tauranga congestion - council

Snodgrass Rd is among local roads being used by SH2 rat-runners. Photo / Alex Cairns

Hundreds more drivers are taking local roads to “cut ahead” of the congestion on State Highway 2, prompting safety concerns and adding to traffic delays, the local council says.

But a woman who is one of them says she and others are “just doing what any local would do”.

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council data comes after one of itcouncillor Don Thwaites described queue jumpers, sometimes nicknamed rat runners, as, in his view, worse than rats because rats “behave way better”.

The council has been counting vehicles using side roads off State Highway 2 - Te Puna Rd, Te Puna Station Rd, and Clarke Rd - as traffic congestion on the highway between Ōmokoroa and Tauranga has worsened.

The stretch of highway is used by more than 25,000 vehicles a day, and in recent weeks commuters have complained of huge delays making it hard to get to work or school on time. Both Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and Tauranga City Council have roadworks in the area.

Traffic is regularly bumper to bumper on SH2 at Wairoa Bridge. Photo / Alex Cairns

A woman living north of Tauranga, who spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times on the condition she was not named, said she always used the local roads and took exception to being labelled a “rat runner”.

In her view: “The name calling... that’s a bullying tactic to make us look like bad people,” she said.

“I’m a local using routes to get to my destination just like I do in my hometown - using quick roads to stay off the main highway.”

The woman drove to Tauranga most days to get herself to work and her child to school.

She said she was not breaking any laws by turning off the highway at Snodgrass Rd and rejoining it at Clarke Rd.

She estimated her route saved her about 30 minutes of travel time, which was “absolutely” significant.

A Google Maps route recommendation suggesting drivers use back roads, including Te Puna Station Rd which is closed to traffic after a major slip. Image / Google

She said lately the trip had been taking about two hours. She would leave at 6am to allow enough of a buffer to ensure she could get to work by 9am.

“I’ve got a life, I’ve got a family. I don’t want to waste three hours in traffic.”

She was not convinced using local roads to get ahead created more delays on the main highway.

Council deputy chief executive and infrastructure group general manager Gary Allis said, speaking generally, the council was concerned about the impact motorists trying to “jump the queue” were having on the wider roading network.

“We know that merging traffic does slow things down. So while these queue jumping rat runners are speeding up their journey, they’re slowing down traffic for everyone else and making other people’s journey times longer.”

The council also received feedback that people were driving at increased speeds to “jump the queue”, which created safety concerns, Allis said.

Road counters on Clarke Rd and Te Puna Rd showed a marked increase in movements in the week of May 11 to 18.

Allis said this was the result of both the closure of Te Puna Station Rd at a slip site plus “increase queue jumpers using it as a rat run”.

“We’ve certainly seen an increase in people using local roads to cut ahead of State Highway 2 traffic,” Allis said.

In May, the traffic count on Te Puna Rd was 3892 vehicles. This included traffic that previously used Te Puna Station Rd, which included up to 500 queue jumpers, Allis said.

“The new figure suggests that an additional 300 vehicles are using the rat run to queue jump.”

Before Te Puna Station Rd was closed in January, the number of vehicles using Clarke Rd was 315. Now, it was 956.

Clarke Rd traffic has tripled. Photo / Alex Cairns

“And we know that these aren’t the only roads people are using to rat run,” Allis said.

The council considered potentially closing the local roads in the morning peak period to help combat this but said this would be difficult as it would need to separate local traffic from queue jumpers. It would create tailbacks, safety issues “and I suspect an increase in driver aggression”, he said.

“The drivers are already tense enough with the current congestion.”

People who have spoken out about the impact of the congestion included an Ōmokoroa mum who said she was putting her new house up for rent and looking for something closer to town.

On Thursday, councillor Thwaites said he was using Zoom to attend most council meetings and workshops rather than go on the road, after seeing a fully-laden school bus still stuck in “horrendous” traffic at 9.15am.

Clarke Rd residents said they were frustrated with heavy vehicles using their road as a thoroughfare.

Allis said that typically, there was an expectation that about 10 per cent of traffic on local roads was heavy vehicles.

On Clarke Rd, the figure was normally 10.3 per cent. Now, it was 15.7 per cent.

“When that number goes up, the overall lifespan of the road is shortened.”

Allis said the increase in heavy vehicles using “narrower, quieter country roads such as Clarke Rd” created an edge break of the road seal. It also changed the quiet ambiance, annoyed residents, “and if speed is involved, can increase safety risks”.

Asked what the council planned to do about the situation, Allis said: “It’s difficult to put in place a practical and legal mechanism to deter truck drivers queue jumping while allowing all other vehicles.”

The council could consider a heavy traffic restriction bylaw on Clarke Rd that only allowed heavy vehicles servicing those properties “but this is not an instant solution”.

A bylaw required a proposal and a consultation, submission and decision-making process which would take at least six months, Allis said.

The transport agency works have been scheduled to take place at night to avoid the level of disruption during the day and include full night closures, such as one this Sunday.

The Tauranga City Council works are expected to be complete by July.