The long awaited Grenada Street link offering alternative commuting routes for both Papamoa and Mount Maunganui will be opened to traffic this week on Wednesday.
Construction of the 400m section between Sunrise Avenue and Sandhurst Drive began in May and its completion has been eagerly anticipated by residents.
The Grenada Street link will open during peak hour on Wednesday morning. Photo: Bruce Barnard
The lack of the link caused severe daily congestion along Maranui Street, says Pacific Coast Village's managing partner Graham Wilkinson.
'The road completion is wonderful news for our village residents as well as for anyone travelling the route. Traffic jams can cause driver frustration and can result in accidents at intersections,” says Graham.
Construction began on the $828,998.85 Grenada Street link in May, following construction of the Sandhurst Drive access onto the Tauranga Eastern Link.
The official opening will be by Mayor Stuart Crosby at the Sandhurst Drive end of the link on Wednesday, at 8am.
The remaining unlinked through-road is Gloucester Road, but there are no plans to join it up at present, says Tauranga City Council transportation manager Martin Parkes.
It's a link the council has wanted to build for a considerable period of time as it will take the pressure off Papamoa Beach Road and give people other options, he explains.
'As the area develops then we would like to get a further link across there, that's the ultimate plan. We work with the land owners and as the land owners want to develop the area, we will put a road through,” says Martin.
'The links that are currently there have made a big difference to the way people travel around there. And once we have got the Grenada Street link constructed that will be further options for people to use.
'It helps spread the traffic load around that area, so if there's an incident on one part of the network there are other options for people to use.”
Construction of the Grenada Street link was undertaken by Bay of Plenty civil engineering firm All About Construction.
5 comments
clingon
Posted on 25-07-2016 13:22 | By clingon
So this piece of road cost $828,998.85? That is very precise estimating. Surely there was a consultant or councillor who could have shared the extra $1001.15 to round the price up to an even $830,000.00! So much easier to report on...
@clingon
Posted on 25-07-2016 14:35 | By Chris
The one constant in this universe is people complaining in local news comment sections. I'm a cost accountant (not for council, private company) - I gather costs on projects and report on them. If all of my gathered costs across a huge range of vendors happens to add up to a funny odd number, I'm going to report that funny odd number, not some arbitrary rounded figure. I would never expect my vendors to take a hit so that my reported numbers are more palatable to the eagle-eyes local news commenters.
YAY
Posted on 25-07-2016 14:44 | By Capt_Kaveman
been a long time in the waiting for like 20years
Cost Accountant
Posted on 25-07-2016 15:32 | By thebrads6
Hey Chris, Just a by the by, if you underestimated this job by $1.5M would you still have a job on Monday? See over in Tauriko, the longest roundabout upgrade EVER.
Great news
Posted on 25-07-2016 16:22 | By Rinkles
Well what fantastic news - well done !! To complete the road in such a short space in time is incredible !! I do however still look forward to the Gloucester Rd link up.
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