Proposed changes to speed limits aren't sitting well with Te Puke residents, as a 'high” number of submissions continue to flood into Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

Ahead of the February 27 submission deadline, figures released by council show more than 300 submissions have been recorded in less than a month.

Western Bay of Plenty is calling for submissions on a variety of speed limits for Te Puke. Photo: File.

Submissions opened last month on the variety of speed limit changes and new names proposed for State Highway 2 between Domain Road and Paengaroa – ahead of the highway reverting to a local road when the Tauranga Eastern Link opens later this year.

It will be operated by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and as part of the handover, the council is required to review and adopt speed limits along the stretch of road.

In an effort to improve safety and reflect the changed function of the road, Council is proposing a 80km/h limit on rural sections. It is also proposing to extend the 50km/h section to the Domain Road side of Te Puke Quarry Road and to extend the 70km/h limit in the same area.

On the east side of Te Puke, the proposal is to replace the present 80km/h section with 70 km/h.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council group manager for infrastructure services Gary Allis 211 submissions have been received regarding speed limit changes, along with and 99 on the two road name changes.

He admits these numbers are high compared to similar cases in the past – where council usually receives about 10-15 submissions on a road name change – and expects these numbers to grow significantly in the next fortnight.

'This is a big issue for the community and there are strong opinions on the issue, so we always expected a big response,” says Gary.

'It's good to see people putting their views forward. We want this to be a decision the whole of Te Puke and the surrounding rural community is involved in, so we encourage people to make their thoughts known.”

According to New Zealand Transport Agency statistics the current average speed on this route is currently 88km/h, despite motorists having the option to travel at 100km/h.

Statistics show dropping the speed from 100km/h to 80km/h will add 25 seconds to travel time between Welcome Bay Road and Collins Road North.

If you were doing that same trip at 100km/h, dropping the speed limit to 80km/h would add an extra 96 seconds to your journey.

Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle says the group fail to see the logic in a speed reduction, with agricultural machinery and heavy traffic already an issue.

Mark is confident that the TEL's completion will alleviate some of this heavy traffic but local traffic will still remain high, with the various speed limits causing further headaches.

He says: 'It will add to what is already a number of frustrations with the road because the speed limits where we can get to 100km/h are safe and that's not the scene of accidents and we need efficiency and convenience of travel time.

'There are a number of frustrating parts of the road where the speed drops down to 70 then it goes back to 100 in other areas.”

In conjunction with the two outlined points of discussion, the group is preparing to put forward a comprehensive submission outlining a raft of other issues they deem important in developing the township, including passing bays and lanes, road maintenance and roundabout systems.

'Our organisation has 100-plus members,” adds Mark, 'so they are behind it and the community at large there and many more support what we are saying.”

Te Puke resident Frank Gammock believes changes to the speed limit will do nothing more than offer up added dangers on the road and produce a spike in the number of tickets issued by police given the various speeds outlined.

'It's a ridiculous suggestion that that's going to improve safety by reducing the speed limit,” says Frank.

'It won't. What it will do is make drivers more frustrated and they will be ready to take more risks and pass when they shouldn't.”

A resident of 15 years, he agrees with Mark and questions why limits need to be change given the small number of accidents on the piece of road and the volume of traffic set to reduce greatly following the TEL's introduction..

'Let the traffic demonstrate the most effective speeds for this road,” adds Frank

Submission on both the speed limits and road names close at 5pm on Friday February 27. For more information visit: www.westernbay.govt.nz