A $7million makeover of one of Tauranga's 'busiest rural intersections” is being welcomed with generous positivity - but not everyone is impressed.

The NZ Transport Agency announced yesterday that the multi-million dollar figure has been put aside to construct a two lane roundabout at the State Highway 2 Te Puna/Minden Road intersectionfrom next summer. It is expected to take about six months.

A new site is yet to be decided for the Te Puna Memorial Hall. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

The roundabout is seen as a key part of improving safety on the highway between Bethlehem and Waihi.

The announcement follows months of consultation that determined a roundabout as the best solution to improve the safety of the busy intersection, awarding a $135,000 design contract to Opus Consultants in 2014.

Along with the new roundabout, more than $5m worth of safety improvements, including guard rails and wide centre line treatments, are set to be installed along the route over the next two months.

But a Te Puna business owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, says constructing the roundabout will only prove more problematic than the current set up.

'It's just going to block traffic and create problems,” they said. 'It's bumper-to-bumper traffic now in the morning without putting a roundabout there. Stopping every vehicle will make it worse.

'We haven't had any accidents since they did the broadening of the road, not bad ones any way. All the accidents happen up the road. We are dead against it.”

Instead, they suggest traffic lights are a more suitable and cheaper alternative in what will help keep traffic flowing through the township as opposed to a bottleneck at peak hours.

'The roundabout will actually stop traffic,” they add, 'while traffic lights will keep the traffic flowing and there will be no disruption to businesses by taking land or moving halls or anything else.”

Nourish Café owner Ian Walker, however, fully supports the anticipated construction, and highlights heavy trucks hurtling through the township as a concern.

With his café on the corner of SH2 and Te Puna Road, Ian says it's currently 'too risky” for motorists attempting to turn off the main highway, and the roundabout can only be good news.

'With it being a long wide road, trucks are travelling at 80km/h. So anything to slow them down and make it easier for motorists to get off the main road or get across it is welcomed.”

'It's probably about five lanes wide, when you take the turning medians into account, so to get across there is a long way and people take risks.”

The announcement confirms the Te Puna Memorial Hall is on the move, but its new location is yet to be decided.

Te Puna Memorial Hall advisory group convenor Jo Gravit says so far, the only agreement is that the new hall should remain in the near vicinity to its current spot.

The advisory group consists of representatives from the Te Puna Memorial Hall Committee, Te Puna Heartlands, Te Puna Primary School, local hapu and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

'Now that there is certainty and it looks as though it's going to get underway next summer, we can work closely with council to secure a new site,” says Jo.

It is understood a number of sites are being investigated, but the final decision will come down to designs and site access.

Council owns the 2000m2 of land on which the hall is currently located and the hall building, at 370m2, is owned by the community.

The hall land was gifted by the Armstrong family as a memorial to those local men who served in the First World War and the hall was built in 1923 by voluntary community labour.

One of every three Te Puna men who served in the Great War never returned home.

The hall averages 14 bookings a week, catering for a range of activities such as ballroom dancing, keep fit classes, post-natal programmes, indoor bowls, church meetings, Zumba classes, gardening and many private functions.

And Jo agrees changes to the intersection are needed, with the volumes of contributing traffic on the side roads – Te Puna and Minden roads – adding to the congestion.

'We all know there is a problem with that intersection,” says Jo. 'There would be no doubt as there is about 19,000 traffic movements through it.

'I understand it is probably one of the busiest rural intersections in the region because of the growing population up the Minden, and the traffic to the school and to other activities that are growing around Te Puna Road.”