Flagging State Highway 2 from Mount Maunganui to Paengaroa as the second worst stretch of highway in the country is one of the reasons why it is being bypassed, says New Zealand Transport Agency state highway manager for the Bay of Plenty Rod James.

The New Zealand Road Assessment Programme (KiwiRAP) designations were made last week with several sections of BOP highways featuring.
"What this system does is it's a generalised system that gives star ratings for highways," says Rod.
"It is a relatively independent assessment based on an international model.
"When you compare that with where we already know we've got programmed improvement work, they match up fairly well.
"It gives us a bit of confidence knowing it is highlighting the bits of road we know are the ones that we have got to address."
The other Western Bay state highway sections that are rated poorly on the KiwiRAP list include:
SH29 and SH2 within Tauranga - ranked 13
SH2 from Paeroa to Katikati - ranked 16
SH2 from Katikati to Tauranga - ranked 26

"The way the system (KiwiRAP) works, it's a combination of traffic volumes, things you might hit if you go off the highway, whether we have got passing lanes," says Rod.
"There are no real surprises. That star rating highlights for drivers where they have to be more careful. It would be as much about domestic drivers as freight."
The rating system also showed 11 per cent of the Bay of Plenty's state highway network has a high crash density.

The KiwiRAP star rating for New Zealand highways places about 42 per cent of the Bay of Plenty's state highway network under a two-star rating.
Two stars is a highway with major deficiencies, such as poor alignment, poor roadside conditions, inadequate median protection and poorly designed intersections at regular intervals.

The New Zealand Road Assessment Programme, KiwiRAP, is a road safety partnership between the Automobile Association and New Zealand government agencies: NZ Transport Agency, Ministry of Transport, Accident Compensation Corporation, and New Zealand Police.