Hot on the heels of the Tauranga Eastern Link, another major piece of new road infrastructure will enter the public hearing process next week, with congestion between Baypark and Bayfair on the agenda.
Stage two of reducing traffic from Maunganui Road onto State Highway 2 begins next Monday (August 10) at the ASB Arena.
The land sought for the B2B project is highlighted in yellow. Photos: NZTA.
The NZ Transport Agency is seeking to acquire land along the route, including 11 Maunganui Road sections, to enable widening of the highway to accommodate a flyover, additional lanes and a new SH29 roundabout.
The $120 million B2B project involves the Maunganui Road/Girven Road intersection and the SH2/SH29 roundabout within the SH2 corridor, between the western end of the Tauranga Eastern Link at Te Maunga and the Hewletts Road approach to the Port of Tauranga.
The SH29/Truman Lane intersection is also included within the scope of the project.
Investigations by NZTA show the sites operate as a single intersection and any improvements need to consider both locations.
The B2B project seeks to address the congestion at both intersections which constrains the expected benefits of the newly-opened TEL, and the competing traffic demands which encourage unsafe behaviour.
The ECMT railway crossings on Matapihi Road and SH29 also cause increasing delays to road traffic.
Train numbers are expected to increase by 50 per cent over the next ten years, with the Matapihi crossing forecast to carry more than 40 trains per day and the SH29 crossing carrying nearly 20 trains per day.
Trains crossing SH29 result in significant delays and queues which can result in congestion that lasts for up to 15 minutes.
The resulting queues can stretch for 300-to-400m and impact the performance of both SH2 and the TEL.
The key focus of the Government Policy Statement on transport is to remove bottlenecks in the land transport network and encourage economic growth and productivity in the process.
It is hoped the B2B project would achieve this through alleviating significant congestion by separating local and state highway traffic and removing the influence of the East Coast Main Trunk line on local and state highway traffic.
The hearing is allowed three days from Monday August 10, and will take place at the ASB Arena.
6 comments
Where are their heads?
Posted on 04-08-2015 09:27 | By Murray.Guy
I'll never understand why the Tauranga Eastern Link didn't include this critical section of the highway from the outset as the value of the link fill ONLY be realised when the flyover is in place. Hopefully, albeit unlikely, they will include provision and access for park and ride options at Te Maunga/Baypark, by road and rail.
In the sand again?
Posted on 04-08-2015 12:13 | By Ceedub51
Well spoken Murray Guy! Whatever happened to the little section of Grenada Street (behind Coast) still to be hooked up? According to some Coast residents, TCC have already been paid to have this section of road completed. This will take a little more load off Papamoa Beach Rd and the main highway and create another alternate route.
Murray
Posted on 04-08-2015 14:46 | By MISS ADVENTURE
When split up into several bits means a better price overall for the contractor.
Sad Design
Posted on 04-08-2015 17:02 | By Capt_Kaveman
Has flaws like Domain Rd eg where and why has Domain rd have no slip lane?? there was no reason to goto both roundabouts
BEWARE PROPERTY OWNERS
Posted on 05-08-2015 13:38 | By Colleen Spiro
There is a bill before Parliament associated with the Public Works Act....It refers to the KISS OFF sum of $2,000. The Public works Act SOLATIUM figure has not been changed since 1976. The law would mean that $2,000 would change to up to $50,000... The people at Hammond Street (Hairini Link) missed out on that, so make sure you get on to Clayton Mitchell, Simon Bridges. They know about it. We in Hammond Street had to take $50,000 LOANS on freehold homes, to relocate to a decent area. The NZTA will tell you LIES in the beginning, saying that there is a LIKE FOR LIKE SITUATION in the value of your home, they will tell you that there is room for negotiation in Market Value...Once closer to the end....you will be offered Market Value ONLY, so if your house is old, tough.
Why buy 10 houses?
Posted on 07-08-2015 22:56 | By Vman
About time but, it looks like they will also be buying 10 houses/sections (#34 to #44 it looks like). Isnt that an unnecessary cost? There is plenty of room on the other side of the road to just put a slight curve in the new motorway to the other side i woud have thought....?
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