Have you been down Willow Street recently?

The new signage on Willow Street in Tauranga’s CBD is causing mass confusion as the bike lane seems to take up the entirety of the road.

Tauranga resident Colin McGonagle was driving along Willow Street when he suddenly questioned whether cars should be on the road.

“On Monday I went to park in Willow Street, only to see these white cyclists sprayed on the roadway.

“It caused me to brake and stop.

“It was then that I saw other cars parked on both sides of this strip between Wharf and Spring Street that I felt ok to continue and park.

The new signage on Willow Street. Photo: Colin McGonagle.

“I asked the road workers there whether they were also confused, and they said, “Yes, but we are following instructions”.

 “I waved a policewoman down and asked for her thoughts, and she agreed. I said, what do you think? She said, “Well I stopped because I didn’t know whether I was allowed to come down here either”.

Colin asks if this new signage is confusing to the public, police and road workers, who can make sense of it?

“I expect that I`m not the only resident to raise this.

“It’s very confusing. It’s ambiguous and dangerous.

“Please attend to this confusing, dangerous signage ASAP,” pleads Colin.

The new signage on Willow Street. Photo: Colin McGonagle.

Council’s comment

 “We’re sorry to hear about this person’s experience on Willow St and acknowledge these are significant changes that may take some time for everyone to get used to,” says TCC transport development team leader Tom McEntyre.

“The section of Willow St referred to has become one-way for cars, while cyclists are still able to move in both directions.

“There will soon be arrows on the road (called ‘sharrow markings’) to make it clearer to drivers and cyclists that they can share a lane.

“On the whole, works for the city centre movement pilot have proceeded very well and are on track to be substantively finished by the end of this month – but there are still one or two things to finish off like road markings and plant boxes.

The latest version of the map – this has been updated to include the additional one-waying of Willow St. Photo supplied.

“When the project is complete, we will have a more attractive city centre with other benefits, including: 

-Safer streets, by slowing down vehicles, reducing intersection issues and improving visibility

-More space for wider footpaths, planter boxes, street art and other opportunities to make the city centre more attractive and accessible

-Fewer road closures for the many building projects ramping up in our city centre, because space can be provided beside the street for construction activities when needed.

“This is a good opportunity to mention that a small section of Willow St (between Wharf St and Hamilton St) will become one-way next month and will be permanently closed at some point to allow for the construction of the new civic precinct, Te Manawataki o Te Papa.

“There is no set date for the closure, but the surrounding one-way system will be retained when the closure does occur.”