Papamoa East residents waking on Wednesday morning may experience delays during their commute due to a lane of Te Okuroa Road closing for a few days.

Nikki Signal, a resident noticed a large digital sign on the side of Te Okuroa Rd on Sunday which appeared damaged but provided enough information suggesting the road was going to be closed on Monday. The sign is on a trailer near the Montiicola roundabout.

She asked about the road closure on Sunday afternoon on the Papamoa Link Facebook group.

'Have just gone down Te Okuroa Road and saw signs saying it's closed from tomorrow, but can't find anything about it online, does anyone have any info about this?” asked Nikki.

There didn't appear to be any information about the closure on the Tauranga City Council website. The information call centre at council was phoned on Sunday but staff members there also had no information about any closure.

Papamoa Link group members discussed the ramifications of a road closure on traffic flow and volume.

'[It is] going to make getting out of Pap East fun for all tomorrow,” wrote Nikki.

She drove to take a look at where the traffic pinch points would be.

'I've just been out and seen the Te Puke detour is done,”says Nikki. 'I honestly thought it would have been extended as when I drove that road on Thursday it looked far from being complete. They must have pulled finger which is good. Having all Te Puke bound traffic coming down Tara Road was overload for poor Parton Road roundabout.”

On Monday the question was pursued further with council. Finally on Tuesday afternoon a message was sent through explaining what was happening.

"Te Okuroa Road in Papamoa East was meant to be closed from Monday February 15 so contractors could undertake urgent repairs,” says Tauranga City Council's Director of Transport Brendan Bisley.

'Unfortunately, the start date was delayed due to the bad weather. This rain seems to also have damaged the digital sign and we have let the contractors know.”

Brendan says the work is now expected to start Wednesday February 17 and take around three to five days to complete.

'Detours will be in place. At this stage we do not know where the detours will be until we fully assess the site tomorrow,” says Brendan.

The tomo is located in the pavement along Te Okuroa Drive, on the city side of the roundabout with Livingstone Drive.

'When possible, we always try to avoid road closures. However, one lane of the road will need to be closed to allow repairs to be completed safely,” says Brendan.

'The road closure will be short and done at times that will cause minimal disruption to commuters. It will not impact morning commuters.”