State Highway 29 at The Crossing, Tauranga. Photo / Alex Cairns
A potential $2.8 billion plan seven years in the making that could result in 30,651 more homes and 11,466 more jobs is set to be decided upon by city leaders next week.
But some people living in the heart of the proposed changes in Tauranga say they don’t go far enough and more urgency is needed to address “extremely dangerous” intersections and “painful” traffic woes.
The Tauriko SH29 Network Connections Detailed Business Case, is due to be presented to Tauranga City Council on Tuesday. It recommends more lanes, interchanges, and revocation of part of SH29 to make it a local Tauriko road to help unlock housing growth areas and free up the city’s roading network.
A council report recommended a preferred option of six-laning SH29 from Takitimu Drive to Barkes Corner, including bus lanes, widening of SH36 between Lakes Boulevard and SH29A, also including bus lanes, and a new SH29 corridor for inter-regional traffic between Redwood Lane and Takitimu Drive.
The estimated cost for the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency project was $2.2b to 2.7b if delivered as a single stage or between $2.3b and $2.8b if delivered in four stages.
Commissioners will be asked to re-confirm the council’s “strong preference and need” for single-stage delivery within a decade due to the local and national significance of the corridor. Otherwise, the work could take until 2050.
Commissioners will also be asked to endorse the business cases be submitted to Waka Kotahi for approval and recommend to the agency that the next stage of delivering the plan identify solutions to improve future “pinch points” at Cameron Rd/Barkes Corner, and Takitimu Drive/SH29/SH29a/SH36.
A four-lane bridge over the Omanawa Stream, to better integrate with the four-lane sections of the state highway, was also expected to be recommended.
A 49/51 per cent council cost share with Waka Kotahi was expected for a roundabout at the southern Redwood Lane interchange and a walking and cycling path on Marshall Avenue.
The council’s potential share was eligible for National Land Transport Funding.
In the report, council staff said a focus of the business case was to support the projected growth in the Western Corridor in a reasonably flexible way. The business case included improvements to provide for demand from planned growth by hopefully unlocking Tauriko West, Tauriko Business Estate, Kennan Rd and part of the Merrick Rd urban growth areas. This translated to up to 10,472 new homes and potentially 11,466 jobs.
It would also unlock Upper Belk Rd, Upper Joyce Rd, and the remainder of Merrick Rd urban growth areas which meant up to 20,179 homes.
Futureproof testing showed local intersections and links, such as the Taktitimu Drive/SH29/SH29a/SH36 roundabout would perform poorly without attention, they said.
Work on the business case began in 2017 but there had since been “some significant national-level policy shifts” plus local-level planning processes that influenced the scope and time taken to deliver the business case.
Council staff described the business case as “a vision for integrated land use and multi-modal transport development in the Western Corridor”.
Indicative dates for a staggered approach had route protection via designation and consenting happening from 2023/24 to 2026.
Stage two would focus on replacing the Omanawa Bridge and upgrading that intersection from 2026/27 to 2030/2031 and stage three would address SH29A public transport prioritsation and corridor improvements from 2026/27 to 2030/2031.
Stage four would involve a new SH29 and revocation of the existing SH29 in Tauriko, which was expected to take part from 2041/2042 to 2049/2050.
The agency stated in summary in the report that SH29 was a nationally significant freight route and freight demand was forecast to grow.
The sub-region continued to be one of the fastest growth areas in New Zealand, putting pressure on local infrastructure and services, especially housing and transport.
Plans had been made for about 200,000 more people and 95,000 new homes and two million more daily transport movements in the next 30 to 60 years. However, without appropriate integration into the transport system, “planned land use development and growth in the Western Corridor is unlikely to proceed due to the scale of impacts on access, safety and liveability”.
Lakes resident Steve Laslett told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend that since housing was put in on the west side of SH36, people were walking across the highway on a daily basis and putting themselves and motorists at risk.
He was encouraged the highway was being widened but hoped the works would include safe pedestrian and cyclist access.
“At the Kennedy Rd area especially, you see people walking across there and cyclists, and kids as well. They walk to school. They will walk straight across the highway,” he said.
“It’s a massive, massive necessity to allow access across. At the moment, everyone has to drive. We are talking about some people driving a 200m journey.”
Laslett said the intersections of SH29 with Belk, Omanawa and Gargan Rds were also concerning.
“It’s extremely dangerous and there’s no short-term solution.”
Laslett would like to see temporary roundabouts or other safety measures introduced in the interim.
However, Laslett believed it would take a death or serious crash before there was any urgency in delivering safer access in and out of these roads.
Laslett also wanted to see Gargan Rd opened up into Tauriko to stop the number of heavy vehicles pulling out on to SH29 to come into the city, contributing to the congestion.
“At the moment, it’s painful watching these people stuck in traffic,” he said.
“It’s very frustrating when you look at The Lakes.”
Nicholas Meloni knows all about being stuck in traffic. He spent 45 minutes getting from Fraser St to the Oropi Rd/SH29A roundabout on Wednesday.
The real estate agent lives and works in The Lakes and last month clocked up 5000km in his car.
He his view, Tauranga’s roading network was “pathetic”.
Meloni said he felt the proposed interchange and widening of highways were “retrofitting” Tauranga’s traffic situation from six years ago.
“If they are doing any upgrades, they need to look at how it’s going to look 100 years from now like the rest of the world does,” he said.
“This is not a functioning city. It will drive people away rather than attract them.”
Meloni said he believed the answer was flyovers for the main SH29A intersections because that would keep traffic flowing.
Sustainable Bay of Plenty’s Glen Crowther believed there were better alternative solutions.
“We don’t see the evidence that this is a good solution and it won’t reduce carbon emissions. The only way for that is to hope that everyone has electric cars and even then we will still have congestion,” he said.
“We would love to see that before they play their hand, they should go to the public and say ‘here are all the options’ ... ask people if they want to prioritise the environment, or try to stop the sprawl, or get houses as soon as possible.”
In his view: “It just looks like more expensive houses and greenfield sprawl.”
Tauriko Business Estate director Bryce Donne said the organisation had been one of the stakeholders working on a potential upgrade of SH29 between Omanawa Rd and Oropi Rd roundabout for about 20 years.
Donne said the highway supported the efficiency of the main freight route to the Port of Tauranga, increased route resilence, significantly improved safety, and enabled economic growth and business efficiency. The planned works supported existing and planned public transport and offered multi-modal transport alternatives, he said.
“It also unlocks residential growth opportunities which are urgently needed ...”
“So yes, we strongly support it. A business case which identifies the importance of this essential infrastructure is a great first step. Hopefully, central government will see how important this is, not just for the sub-region but also for the Waikato and New Zealand in general.
“It needs to be funded and construction started as soon as possible.”
Waka Kotahi regional manager of system design Jess Andrew said the recommended option supported a “thriving and growing community” and provided alternative transport options, protected freight routes to and from the Port of Tauranga and was safe.
“The western Bay of Plenty is expanding faster than anywhere in Aotearoa New Zealand and the topography of the region contributes to the pressure the growing population puts on roading infrastructure.
“We are looking at solutions that cater for growth in the western Bay of Plenty because we don’t have the money or space to build more roads.”
The unique topography had created pinch points on the travel system where people driving across town got stuck in traffic.
Andrew said providing better walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure would “help encourage” alternative transport.
She said it would close the existing SH29/Belk Rd intersection and would be timed with the opening of a new road link connecting Kaweroa Drive to Belk Rd.
“It will provide a safer way for everyone to move around, especially for those who currently enter and exit Belk Road from and to SH29.
The programme for the construction of the Tauriko Enabling Works was being developed, with the goal to move into construction in the next six to nine months.
“This is subject to consultation with landowners whose property or access may be affected by the works, consenting requirements and land acquisition.”
Andrews said the agency was aware of the lack of crossing points for walking and cycling across SH36 around the SH36/Kennedy Rd and it and the city council had explored solutions.
The safest, most appropriate solution was a grade-separated crossing and these generally take the form of an overpass or underpass.
“This also aligns with the aspiration of developing a network of safe routes for cycling, walking and personal mobility to allow people to easily reach their local shops, schools, parks and neighbouring communities.
“Unfortunately, the timing of a grade-separated crossing at this location is uncertain and is outside of the scope of the Tauriko Network Plan.”
The recommended programme of improvements identified by the business case includes:
• Public transport network facilities and priority lanes, including a new public transport hub within Tauranga Crossing.
• An integrated walking and cycling network.
• Supporting travel demand management interventions progressed through any regional travel demand management package
• A new two-lane SH29 corridor between Omanawa Rd and Redwood Lane.
• A new offline four-lane SH29 corridor between Redwood Lane and the Takitimu Toll Road.
• A new online six-lane SH29A corridor between Takitimu Drive Toll Road and Barkes Corner, including dedicated bus lanes.
• SH36 widening between Lakes Boulevard and SH29A including dedicated bus lanes.
• Future revoked section of SH29 (once the new state highway route is provided).
• Seven intersection improvements, including three grade-separated interchanges at Redwood Lane, Takitimu Drive and Barkes Corner.
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.
The incident happened about 11.30am.