Concept plans for the second leg of a controversial city infrastructure project, tipped to cost more than $159 million, have drawn concern from one resident who believes they have not considered the disabled community enough.
The Cameron Rd upgrade in Tauranga aims to improve travel, beautify, and update ageing infrastructure including water pipes and utility services. Stage 1 is under construction and focuses on Harington St to 17th Ave while Stage 2 - 17th Ave to Cheyne Rd, Pyes Pa - is in the early design phase.
Tauranga City Council infrastructure general manager Nic Johansson said as of the end of March, $62.7m had been spent on Stage 1, which was expected to be done by December.
Johansson said the Stage 1 budget was initially $93.1m and the final cost was now expected to be $97.5m due to Covid-19, unprecedented price escalation on resources “and an unseasonably wet summer”.
He said the council was constantly looking for cost efficiencies.
Project funding sources included council infrastructure upgrade budgets and $45m from the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group Fund.
The initial Stage 2 cost estimate of $159,475,703 was included in the council’s 2021-31 Long-term Plan Amendment.
Estimates would be developed further once a preferred option was identified and concept designs progressed, Johansson said.
“If the business case process is successful the project is expected to be funded through a combination of infrastructure partners, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, Infrastructure Financing and Funding Model (IFF) and Infrastructure Acceleration Funding,” Johansson said. The IFF was levy-funded rather than rate-funded.
Community consultation on Stage 2 was held between February 27 and April 2 and included a letter drop to 13,000 Te Papa Peninsula properties, and community events attended by 160 people. Another 280-plus responded to a council survey.
Johansson said a summary of feedback was due to be released soon.
The project’s roadworks have been painful for many Cameron Rd business owners. In March 2021, some expressed concerns about Stage 1 of the then-$45m project, primarily worried about the loss of parking and disruption. By that December, more echoed the concerns, saying they were losing clientele. Further complaints followed a year later, and more this month. The council has previously said it was doing what it could to help but ruled out any form of compensation, citing the Public Works Act.
With the business case for Stage 2 being prepared, concerns have been surfacing again.
Greerton pensioner Alan Northcote said concept plans suggesting a pedestrian crossing on the western side of the Chadwick and Cameron Rds intersection would, in his opinion, put lives, including his, “at risk”.
Concept plans released during consultation proposed three options that included the pedestrian crossing.
Northcote believed the gradient between the slipway to the Greerton shopping centre on the northwest corner of the intersection and the road was too steep and narrow for anyone with mobility issues, like him, to safely wait or cross.
Northcote said steps and a handrail already in place helped some people but he believed there was not enough space to safely mitigate the drop from the road to the slipway, particularly for wheelchair or mobility scooter users.
In his view: “That can’t possibly be part of a pedestrian crossing. People with a disability must have safe access. There’s no way that can be safe,” he said.
Northcote used the steps as needed but believed it was “something fearful, going down those steps, holding on to that handrail”.
He believed the council should not place a pedestrian crossing there and felt it should be left as a place where “you cross at your own risk”.
Council manager of network safety and sustainability Anna Somerville said Stage 2 was about making the route “safer and more attractive”, and providing more ways for people to move.
“Pedestrian crossings provide opportunities for people to cross safely, particularly near intersections where there is increased traffic movement.”
Somerville said the three options put to the community were born from feedback from previous consultations “including that parking is very important to local businesses and people want good pedestrian access across the road in this area”.
Asked what discussions were had with members of the disabled community about the concept plans, Somerville said representatives from the sector had been invited in all stages of engagement.
The concept plans were a way of establishing key principles and opportunities and were not fully developed designs, she said.
“There are benefits and compromises for each concept, however, they must all be achievable within the space we have available based on the road survey plan and, ultimately, must meet safety, mobility and accessibility standards. During this current phase of work, we are considering all of the community feedback received alongside technical analysis to inform [staff] recommending a preferred option.”
Somerville said that depending on what progressed to detailed design, technical specialists would inform further development of a preferred option, which would get a full safety audit.
“In the next phase, we will engage again with the community, including the disability sector, when we have more detailed plans.”
A preferred option, funding, approved delivery programme, and detailed design were expected by early next year.
Over the next 30 years, 15,000 more people are expected to live in the Te Papa area. Another 200,000 extra people are expected to live in the wider Bay of Plenty in the next 30 to 50 years.
Source: Tauranga City Council
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