Today's hearings to a panel of Bay of Plenty council representatives included Te Puna businessman Sean Lett who built the symbolic crosses that now lined SH2.
Lett, who lived beside the highway between the Bilton roadside shop and Snodgrass Rd, said 10 people had died in car crashes within 1km of his home over the past five or six years.
He said afterwards that he was tired of going out to help pick up the pieces of people bleeding and dying.
''I don't want to fix State Highway 2 - I want a new four-lane road built from Tauranga to Katikati, with a bypass around Katikati.''
He explained this would leave the existing road as a safe road for locals.
Lett said he did not mind crawling into town in long queues of traffic because at least it was safe. When traffic was going at 90km/h, he was unable to cross to the other side of the road.
''People won't let you in.''
The first priority of the Land Transport Plan should be to build a new four-lane road to Katikati, he said. The new road could be tolled, leaving the local existing road as the free alternative.
Lett said a new highway would be cheaper in the long run than trying to upgrade the existing road that would include the massive cost of building overbridges to connect the main side roads.
''You can't four-lane the existing road.''
He called for an immediate reduction in the speed limit on SH2 to 80km/h and a higher presence by traffic cops.
The hearings continue tomorrow.
Crash statistics from 2012-16 on Tauranga to Katikati highway
• 18 people died
• 35 serious crashes
• 95 minor crashes
