Jan Neale and Rebecca Roe want council to take action to make Pāpāmoa Beach Rd safer. Photo / John Borren
Jan Neale and Rebecca Roe want council to take action to make Pāpāmoa Beach Rd safer. Photo / John Borren
Residents of a beachside suburb in Tauranga fed up with speeding and noise on their street are urging council to take action.
Rebecca Roe and Jan Neale live on Pāpāmoa Beach Rd and presented a petition to Tauranga City Council last week.
It said their stretch of road from Domain Rd to Palm Beach Boulevard was in breach of “tolerant levels” of health and safety because of excessive road noise, speed and congestion.
They gathered 42 signatures from people who lived on that part of Pāpāmoa Beach Rd.
Neale told Local Democracy Reporting people speed along the long straight stretch of road and he wants the council to work with police to install a fixed speed camera.
Neale said he knows someone who operates a mobile speed camera on their road.
“The fastest he’s got was 90km/h in a 50km/h area.”
He said he has nearly been “taken out” many times at the pedestrian crossing near Domain Rd because of speeding and drivers not paying attention.
Jan Neale said he has nearly been 'taken out' numerous times while using the crossing at the Domain Rd intersection. Photo / John Borren
“There’s been so many accidents at this crossing, like rear-enders. There was a lady that was nearly cut in half on a scooter, she was spat out between two cars.”
The road noise was also affecting people’s wellbeing, he said.
“Anybody that lives along this road will tell you that they can’t sit out on their front deck.”
Before his home was built Neale lived in a cabin with single-glazed windows and the noise made sleep difficult.
“I had to have earplugs in all night. The noise was absolutely horrendous, I could not sleep at night.
“I get so stressed out with the noise.”
There is a bank around 1km long along the road causing the noise to reverberate back into the houses, he said.
Neale and Roe have asked council to plant the bank in flax rather than grass to absorb the noise. They also want the road asphalted rather than chip sealed which reduced noise “massively”.
Roe said she was concerned about children and elderly people living on the road and she wanted judder bars and more crossings to lower speeds.
It should be a residential road rather than arterial route, she said.
Roe said a heavy vehicle ban would also help alleviate the issues.
She also planned to set up an advocacy group for affected residents.
At the meeting last week, commission chair Anne Tolley said there were discussions happening with the police for ongoing policing of speed in that area.
“To hear that traffic is on a 50km/h road doing 90km/h is unacceptable.
Noise and speeding drivers is creating safety concerns for Pāpāmoa Beach road residents. Photo / John Borren
“It is dangerous, so we do need some active policing in that area.”
Asphalt was “quite expensive” and the council could seal the road with it, but residents would need to pay the extra cost, said Tolley.
The council’s website said asphalt was five times more expensive than chip seal.
Tolley said she was meeting with the spaces and places general manager to discuss the possibility of planting the bank in flax.
Once the interchange was complete the council would look at a bylaw to ensure trucks used the TEL, she said.
“Pāpāmoa Beach Rd is still a significant arterial [road] that allows people to get from Pāpāmoa through to the Mount and to the city. I don’t think we are ever going to go back to that as a normal residential street.”
In response to Neal and Roe’s concerns, council network safety and sustainability manager Anna Somerville said the council considered all petitions thoroughly and in accordance with standing orders.
The petition was referred to staff for comment and they would report back any findings to council at the May 20 meeting, she said.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
