Mr Campion said contractors trimming trees on SH2 near Clarke Rd had caused drivers to slow down and the crash in the morning on Tauranga's Takitimu Drive also resulted in traffic backed up as far as Te Puna.
"People just need to keep their speed up as opposed to slowing down and looking to see what is going on," Mr Campion said.
"That highway carries a tremendous amount of traffic at the best of times."
The congestion caused by the Takitimu Drive crash also caused problems for the new Schoolhopper bus network.
Yesterday was the first day of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's new fares on its school bus network.
The new system followed a term of free travel.
Lyall Thurston, chairman of the Public Transport Subcommittee and Bay of Plenty regional councillor, said there had been challenges in introducing the new network and getting the correct routes and timing, but generally they were happy with how things had run.
"... We have had reports of services running late, which we apologise for. All services did run and a few were held up by the crash on Takitimu Drive," Mr Thurston said. "Despite our best planning there were also a few technical problems which affected individual buses and we're looking at them ... to find out what caused them.
"We'll be watching to see if fare processing delays buses over the next few days, in which case we'll look at changing route timing."
Mr Thurston said he understood the introduction of fares meant some parents and caregivers had decided not to use the service, but overall the regional council was happy to be offering students an alternative way to get to school, which helped keep cars off the road and congestion down.
The Schoolhopper network replaced a service the Ministry of Education previously managed.
