Current traffic volumes through the Girven Rd/Maunganui Rd roundabout of more than 36,000 vehicles a day.
Current traffic volumes through the Girven Rd/Maunganui Rd roundabout of more than 36,000 vehicles a day.
Four minutes will be trimmed off rush-hour trips once the $123 million project to fix Tauranga's most congested stretch of road is finished by early 2020.
Years of planning and consultation on the scheme to reshape State Highway 2 from Baypark to Bayfair hit the ground today with engineers testing ground conditions.
New Zealand Transport Agency senior project manager Greig Stephen said the first phase of the work, shifting the railway line to run behind the Owens Place shops, would begin later this year and take 18 months.
The focus shifts in early 2017 to rebuilding the road from Baypark to Bayfair, including the construction of two flyovers needed to separate local and highway traffic.
Mr Stephen said the project should save about four minutes on peak hour trips from the new Mangatawa Interchange near Baypark to the Hewletts Rd flyover.
It will bring the total time savings to about 16 minutes from Paengaroa once the Eastern Arterial opens later this year.
Building a flyover across the intersection of Girven Rd and Maunganui Rd and converting the roundabout to traffic signals will be eagerly anticipated by commuters.
Papamoa councillor Leanne Brown said 2020 seemed a long time to wait but the improvements would be huge.
In the meantime, she was waiting to see how Papamoa people responded to the opening of the Eastern Arterial and the nearly-completed Sandhurst Drive link across to Truman Lane and SH2.
Current traffic volumes through the Girven Rd/Maunganui Rd roundabout of more than 36,000 vehicles a day.
She anticipated that the Sandhurst Drive link would ease pressure on Papamoa Beach Rd and Girven Rd as commuters tried new options.
Current traffic volumes through the Girven Rd/Maunganui Rd roundabout of more than 36,000 vehicles a day have been forecasted by planners to reach nearly 60,000 within 20 years.
A major bonus of shifting the railway line behind the Owens Place shops will be that by 2017, the 26 trains a day will no longer cause big disruptions to traffic using Matapihi Rd.
Mr Stephen said the new roading layout meant the pedestrian tunnel linking Matapihi with Bayfair shops would close. People would still be able to cross safely at the new lights controlled intersection.
He said the Omanu Golf Club's driving range would be unaffected. The $123 million project cost included buying 11 residential properties plus three frontages on the eastern side of Maunganui and Girven Rds. Land was also required from KiwiRail and the council on the western side of Maunganui Rd.
A new footpath and cycleway will connect Owens Place with Truman Lane.
The agency's Bay of Plenty highways manager Niclas Johansson said the coming weeks would see services relocated including water, power and telecommunications.
He said the two flyovers would take SH2 over the Maunganui/Girven intersection and take SH29 from Maungatapu over the railway line and SH2.
The project was proceeding through a consent process with a hearing planned for August.
Baypark to Bayfair upgrade benefits •Reduce congestion •Improve safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians •Improve freight route to the port •Separate local and state highway traffic
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