Traffic tailbacks of 7.7km on State Highway 29 has got one Tauranga motorist pretty frustrated – but instead of succumbing to road rage, he thinks he has a solution.

Welcome Bay resident Neil Worden has been travelling back and forth over the Kaimai Range for work for the last 10 years. He's seen some changes too.

'With the Tauranga Crossing development, the industrial area booming and The Lakes subdivision growing substantially, this has put a massive strain on the road structure in the area.” The result?

'Traffic jams have got noticeably worse.”

Traffic imbalance

Neil says the crux of the issue is the roundabout junction where SH29 and SH36 meet.

He says traffic coming along SH36 inbound for Tauranga, is disproportionate to the traffic coming from the Kaimai Range along SH29.

'[On SH36] they're coming at speed, they've got 200m and three lanes of traffic. SH29 has basically got one lane up until less than 100m before the roundabout.”

'There's [a ratio of] three to one cars straight away and since you have to give way [to SH36]…you're going to get a tailback on SH29 no matter what you do.”

Last week Neil says it took him 45 minutes to go 3km from the Caltex Tauriko towards the roundabout.

'On a good day you can get to probably 2km from that roundabout at peak time…on a bad day you're 7.7km back at Pori Pori Rd and there's an accident because it just gets gridlocked.”

Red light

'My suggestion is to put a ‘peak time red light' in place on SH36 at the junction of SH29. This would potentially address the imbalance of traffic flow, which is causing massive tailbacks daily on SH29 coming from the Lower Kaimais.”

Neil says the main traffic build-ups are in the afternoons and suggests a red light traffic light that operates 4pm-6pm on weekdays.

'There's enough traffic management to sink a battleship in New Zealand, so for a month just do a simple red light… Try something new because doing the old stuff isn't working. Put a red light there, see if it goes and let the traffic flow.”

‘No suitable solution'

The Sun asked Waka Kotahi - the New Zealand Transport Agency if they would trial such a peak red light system at the SH36 and SH29 junction, to help traffic flow as Neil proposes.

Waka Kotahi's Bay of Plenty journey manager Frankie Evans says they acknowledge concerns raised in this location and have been investigating resolutions for these issues.

The SH29 and SH36 roundabout with a marking indicting where Neil Worden proposes a peak time red light would aid traffic flow. Image: Google Maps.

'The problems being experienced are significant, and a quick resolution has not been identified at this stage. Regarding the suggestion of temporary lights, short-term solutions have been thoroughly explored and unfortunately no suitable solution was found which did not exacerbate traffic flow problems elsewhere on the network or have adverse road safety outcomes,” says Frankie.

'Tauranga City Council, Waka Kotahi, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council are working together on a project in Tauriko West commencing in 2026, which is designed to address the traffic flow in this area.”

Neil says: 'I genuinely think that the big plans they've got for roundabouts and roads…they're too far in the distance. They really are.

'I think there's opportunity to tweak things to just make it a little bit better in the meantime. Big grandiose plans might work in 10 years' time, but you only have to look at the Bayfair overpass to see how long things take.”

Neil Worden thinks a ‘peak time red light' at on SH36 at the roundabout junction is a temporary solution to ease SH29 traffic. John Borren/SunLive.