Decision time for Te Puke speed limits

The fate of Te Puke's speed limits will be decided today as Western Bay of Plenty District Council decide whether to act on an overwhelming ‘no' to speed reductions from the local community.

At 1.30pm, council's operations committee will deliberate whether or not to go ahead with a raft of speed changes in and around the township in an effort to improve road safety.


The proposed speed changes put forward by Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Photo: Supplied.

The proposal is in conjunction with the impending completion of the Tauranga Eastern Link, where the stretch of State Highway 2 between Domain Road and Paengaroa will revert to a local road and is expected to service traffic heading to and from Te Puke.

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

Council is proposing the speed limit on the rural sections be 80km/h, 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.

The proposed changes come after road safety engineers assessed the road in accordance with national practice, and made suggestions to council.

But a month-long public consultation period produced more than 400 submissions - the majority of which opposed the changes - and 10 verbal submissions at a day-long public hearing.

A council report shows more than 360 opposing reducing the speed limit between the railway bridge, on the district boundary, and 200m west of Collins Lane to 80km/h.

Some 264 oppose a 70km/h speed restriction between 200m west of Collins Lane and 130m west of Te Puke Quarry Road.

Public submissions strongly opposed lowering the speed limit to 80km/h, with some recognising the safety record and considering 90km/h as an acceptable option.

A recurring comment was that the road had been operating at its present volume at 100km/h and it didn't seem logical to reduce the speed limit after 30 per cent of traffic volume would be removed with the TEL's opening.

But according to council, the section of SH2 to be handed over isn't a 'particularly safe road” and has one of the worst safety records compared to other state highways across the country.

New Zealand Transport Agency statistics show from 2008-2012 there have been 25 intersection crashes along the 100km/h sections of road – either at Domain Road, Welcome Bay Road, Poplar Lane or Maketu Road.

'This fact is not well known by the majority of the community and the perception has been used as a mistaken basis for objecting to the proposed reduction in speeds,” says council's transportation operations manager Alex Finn.

'Adoption of the existing speed limits is a realistic option on the basis that the benefits of road improvements could then be fully measured and evaluated before imposing lowered restrictions that may not have the support of the community.”

East of Te Puke there was a degree of public support for reduced speeds, with the Te Puke Community Board proposing the 50km/h zone be extended to the east end of the Waiari Stream Bridge, and a 70km/h zone extended from the bridge to 100m east of the Kaituna River Bridge.

If no changes are proposed, the existing speed limits must be adopted to ensure that the existing speed limits remain enforceable, says Alex.

It is recommended the agreed speed be publically advertised and become effective as of July 1, 2015.

At 3.30pm today, council will discuss two new stretches of road need to be renamed – from Domain Road to Te Puke Quarry Road (Western end) and from No 1 Road to the intersection with SH33 at Paengaroa (Eastern end).

Jellicoe Street, from Te Puke Quarry Road through Te Puke to No 1 Road, will not be changed.

Proposed names so far for the western side of the existing SH2 are McNaughton Road, Long Swamp Road, Packhouse Road, Whiteside Road, Jutland Road (relating to the WWI naval battle involving Admiral John Jellicoe), Green Road and Gold Road.

Suggestions for the Eastern stretch are Goodness Highway, Te Kapua Road (Captain of the Te Arawa canoe), Huanui Highway (translation – Highway), Jutland Road, Packhouse Road, Green Road and Gold Road.

See SunLive this afternoon for full coverage.

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1 comment

Too Late

Posted on 22-04-2015 13:47 | By Towball

Just another example of the single minded approach of Council why change the speed limits now when the eastern link is so close to completion ?. Do they have a surplus of funding that only they know about ?. Or just another example of the Police collection agency extorting money from struggling locals . If road safety was an issue then the matter would be history already .


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