Welcome Bay residents take traffic woes to Tauranga City Council

Adam Bray, Maleta Knight and Anna Larsen present to the Tauranga City Council on behalf of the Welcome Bay Traffic Forum. Photo/Andrew Warner

Fifteen-minute journeys taking 45 minutes, CBD commutes twice as long, school buses having to leave 30 minutes earlier, 3km traffic jams - Welcome Bay residents turned out in force last night to take the council to task about the suburb's traffic woes.

More than 30 residents turned out to support Maleta Knight, Anna Larsen and Adam Bray as they presented the Welcome Bay Transport Forum's submission to Tauranga City Council's draft Long-Term Plan 2018-28.

Mayor Greg Brownless said it was the biggest crowd councillors had seen at the hearings that day. The council is half-way through hearing more than 300 verbal submissions from residents about its plan for the next 30 years.

The group urged the council to give higher priority to the 15th Ave, and Turret Rd upgrade projects and support a trial of free school bus services and commuter buses in the Welcome Bay area, as well as the implementation of a separated cycleway between Welcome Bay and the CBD.

They also asked the council to stop further housing development until the infrastructure could handle it.

"We've waited long enough," said Bray. "Let's just do it."

Councillors asked questions about how residents would feel about the added traffic delays that would come with upgrading 15th Ave at the same time as the Baypark to Bayfair work.

Knight said traffic was already diverting from the beach suburbs to Welcome Bay, so the planning may as well get underway.

In response to comments questioning how the Tauranga City Council was collaborating with the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, which is responsible for the bus network, Brownless said councillors were lobbying hard for results.