Traffic tailbacks of 7.7km on State Highway 29 has got one Tauranga motorist pretty frustrated – but instead of succumbing to road rage, he thinks he has a solution.
Welcome Bay resident Neil Worden has been travelling back and forth over the Kaimai Range for work for the last 10 years. He's seen some changes too. 'With the Tauranga Crossing development, the industrial area booming and The Lakes subdivision growing substantially, this has put a massive strain on the road structure in the area.” The result? 'Traffic jams have got noticeably worse.”
Traffic imbalance
Neil says the crux of the issue is the roundabout where SH29 and SH36 meet. He says traffic coming along SH36 inbound for Tauranga, is disproportionate to the traffic coming from the Kaimai Range along SH29. '[On SH36] they're coming at speed, they've got 200m and three lanes of traffic. SH29 has basically got one lane up until less than 100m before the roundabout.” There's [a ratio of] three-to-one cars straight away and since you have to give way [to SH36]...you're going to get a tailback on SH29 no matter what you do.”
Neil says it took him 45 minutes to go 3km from Caltex Tauriko to the roundabout last week. 'On a good day you can get to probably 2km from that roundabout at peak time...on a bad day you're 7.7km back at Pori Pori Rd and there's an accident because it just gets gridlocked. My suggestion is put a ‘peak time red light' in place on SH36 at the junction of SH29. This would potentially address the imbalance of traffic flow causing massive tailbacks daily on SH29 coming from the Lower Kaimais.”
Neil says the main build-ups are in the afternoons. He suggests a red light traffic light that operates 4pm-6pm weekdays. 'There's enough traffic management to sink a battleship in NZ, so for a month just do a simple red light. Try something new because doing the old stuff isn't working.”
‘No suitable solution'
The Sun asked Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency if they would trial such a peak red light system at the SH36 and SH29 junction, to help traffic flow.
Waka Kotahi's Bay of Plenty journey manager Frankie Evans says they acknowledge concerns raised in this location and have been investigating resolutions for these issues. 'The problems being experienced are significant, and a quick resolution has not been identified at this stage.
'Regarding the suggestion of temporary lights, short-term solutions have been thoroughly explored and unfortunately no suitable solution was found which did not exacerbate traffic flow problems elsewhere on the network or have adverse road safety outcomes.Tauranga City Council, Waka Kotahi, BOP Regional Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council are working together on a project in Tauriko West commencing in 2026, which is designed to address the traffic flow in this area.”
Neil says: 'I genuinely think the big plans they've got for roundabouts and roads…they're too far in the distance. I think there's opportunity to tweak things to just make it a little bit better in the meantime.”