Bayfair hearing delay

The resource consent hearing for changes to the Baypark to Bayfair highway has been delayed for a couple of months while further talks are held with submitters.

'The Transport Agency received a submission late in the hearing process and the decision was made to postpone the hearings while we work with the submitters to understand and address their concerns,” says Transport Agency project manager Greig Stephen.


Details, such as where the Te Maunga roundabout will go, are not yet settled. Photo: Supplied.

The project requires the purchase of ten properties fronting Maunganui Road, while two Girven Road properties will have a slice taken off by the project.

The agency, the council and the commissioner are looking at alternate dates for the hearing.

The NZTA is seeking a wider footprint for Maunganui Road from Bayfair to Baypark to allow additional lanes and flyovers and cater for the expected doubling of traffic using the State Highway 2 corridor over the next 15 years.

The ‘B2B project' addresses the congestion and competing state highway and local traffic demands through the two intersections.

Two flyovers are planned - one will take SH29 over the railway line and the Te Maunga intersection, and the second will take SH2 over the Maunganui Road-Girven Road intersection.

As well as addressing congestion, the works will also prevent the expected bottleneck created when the TEL opens later this year.

The SH2 corridor currently carries 36,000 vehicles per day, and six per cent are heavy commercial vehicles. Traffic along SH2 is predicted to increase when the TEL is completed later this year and is expected to continue to grow to around 60,000 vehicles per day by 2031.

On the NZTA traffic performance scale the level of service for the two intersections is an ‘F' – the worst level of performance, where long delays are experienced.

A train passing through at peak hour will make the wait even longer, and if nothing is done, the congestion will create delays of five-to-eight minutes during the morning and evening peak.

Rail traffic on the East coast Main Trunk Railway line is also expected to increase significantly, with twice as many rains using the line in ten years' time.

At present, log trains from the Eastern Bay can shut down both intersections for several minutes.

Part of the project involves moving the railway line west of Owens Place, reducing the effect of backed up traffic at the Bayfair roundabout. The flyover at Te Maunga will carry road traffic over the railway.

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5 comments

The

Posted on 18-05-2015 09:46 | By Capt_Kaveman

Whole design is flawed and needs to go back and be redrawn


@ Capt_Kaveman

Posted on 18-05-2015 12:39 | By tabatha

I hope you spent time at the open days looking at the proposals and put in what you thought, or are you like your name hibernated until a decision was made and then surfaced. There was a mix of proposals and one group of people off Matapihi Road were dismayed that the railway line could go in front of their homes. It seemed as though they were not told the land was railway. Yes people loosing houses and land need consideration. The sooner it is started and finished the better. The hold ups caused by rail traffic, which we need to service the wharf etc. is huge but the planned decided on reduces traffic hold up for Bayfair and Owens place.


Railway line

Posted on 18-05-2015 19:02 | By maddog

I have Lived in Tauranga for 40 years and use to live on the main rd from the Industrial area of Owens Place and we knew years ago that the Railway line would be re-lined between the industrial area and the Bayfair estate but it was a question when. When Bayfair Estate was established a lot of questions were asked and that the answer was given but now people are been picky about how this is going to go everybody knew that when the flyover was built the bottle neck was going to be Bayfair you could see that why are people complaining here's the NZTA website http://www.nzta.govt.nz/network/projects/project.html?ID=257


LAND AQUISITION

Posted on 18-05-2015 22:17 | By Colleen Spiro

Feel sorry for the poor buggers having to lose their homes and the crap process that they need to go through....There is a Bill in Parliament at the moment, whereby the solatium payment i.e. kiss off payment of $2,000, which has not been changed since 1976, is under discussion to be changed to $50,000...Go and see your MP's....Simon Bridges Secretary and right hand man knows all about it.....USE IT. FIGHT FOR IT, because you only get minimum market value....I needed $50,000 to relocate from the Hairini Link....


@The

Posted on 19-05-2015 11:36 | By Rate1

To say the "whole design is flawed"...what qualifications do you have to state that? Are you a qualified civil engineer? Please make useful statements..Am looking forward to Girven Road and Te Maunga flyovers as that will resolve the congestion issues that are current.


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