Tauranga councillor Bill Grainger said school traffic and road works had intensified congestion over the past six weeks. Photo / File
Tauranga councillor Bill Grainger said school traffic and road works had intensified congestion over the past six weeks. Photo / File
A group of Welcome Bay residents met with a city councillor last night to voice their concerns and frustration about Tauranga's traffic congestion and the impact it was having in their area.
Councillor for Te Papa and Welcome Bay ward, Bill Grainger, said about 15 members of the community were at the meeting and "they were very happy" by the end of it.
Grainger wanted to work with the group and provide support and advice.
"And I will be doing that and giving them all the information I can and give them good direction."
The meeting was about sitting down and listening to what the residents had to say, Grainger said.
The residents wanted to know what the council was doing about the city's traffic woes.
"It's a good start for them to be active and I think when they are, it gives them the opportunity to push their case to the full council as well, and I want that to happen. I'm fully supportive of that."
Grainger said the group should get the support of the Welcome Bay community, put together a submission for the Long Term Plan and present it in person to the council.
"That's very, very important – just to let the council know the frustrations that they are all having," he said.
"Fill the [council] chamber up with the community because we know there's a heck of a lot of concern."
Grainger said he was meeting with local Labour MPs Jan Tinetti, Angie Warren-Clark and Tamati Coffey in the next couple of weeks and would be bringing up transport as a major issue needing to be addressed.
He would also raise the idea of free school buses as a congestion solution he supports.
"Often when I take my dog for a walk – which is every morning – I see in the cars mums taking their kids to school. That happened because free buses were once there, they took that away, and now it's costing the mums and the dads quite a bit of money to get the kids to school."
Grainger said school traffic and roadworks had intensified congestion over the past six weeks.
"It's a matter of trying to do what we can, with what we've got."
He also supported four-laning through Welcome Bay, the introduction of a park and ride facility and carpooling as solutions.
Tauranga councillor Bill Grainger and the backdrop to the Welcome Bay underpass project, near where he wants to establish a commuter park and ride at a planned bus interchange. Photo / George Novak
Grainger said an engineering report was due out soon that explored the possibility of converting Hairini Bridge into three lanes.
"If we could do that in the interim, I think it would be great."
