There were two parts to today's official opening of the Pyes Pa Bypass; a dawn ceremony, and the official speeches held in a marquee on the Kennedy Road roundabout.

Ribbon cutters: Regional council mayor John Cronin, Tauranga City mayor Stuart Crosby, Transport Minister Steven Joyce, State Highways manager Kaye Clark and Western Bay mayor Ross Paterson.

There were two parts to today's official opening of the Pyes Pa Bypass; a dawn ceremony, and the official speeches held in a marquee on the Kennedy Road roundabout.

The dawn ceremony was the unveiling of a ceremonial sternpost of the Takitimu Waka at the roundabout joining the bypass to the Pyes Pa Road. The anchor stone of the waka lies at the Tauranga end of the harbour link.

An explanation of the meaning of the taurapa, and the hoikio figure carved upon it was given by Kaumatua Peri Kohu, who opened the mid morning formalities in the marquee.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce, opened the speeches, followed by the mayors Stuart Crosby, Tauranga and Ross Paterson, Western Bay of Plenty. The opening was also attended by local MPs Simon Bridges, Tony Ryall and Todd McClay from Rotorua.

Regional council mayor John Cronin also attended, along with various councillors.

The 4.5km bypass links SH 36 with Route K providing a quicker route to the port, and bypassing the increasingly urban section of Pyes Pa road, which reverts to a local road today following the opening of the new highway section.

The Pyes Pa road, now State Highway 36, carried 3,500 vehicles a day in 2005, says Ross Paterson. Today that volume is 7,300 a day and expected to continue growing as more heavy traffic takes advantage of the improvements.

Steven spoke about the importance of an efficient strategic roading network to keep Tauranga growing, and commended the partnerships in the Western Bay of Plenty between the regional territorial authorities, the New Zealand Transport Agency and organisations like Priority One.

'Working together with national and local government agencies is what actually gets things done,” says Steven.

After the speeches the crowd made their way out onto the roadway for a joint ribbon cutting ceremony.

The road was opened to traffic as soon as the marquee was struck.

The Takitimu taurapa unvelied earlier today: Photo by Murray Guy.


The crowd emerges from the marquee

Stella 2, George 6, and Fergus Muir 6, refueling after their bike ride.

Dela Salayeva 8, and Meredith Ross-Jame 8, dressed up their bikes for the event.

Grady, 19 months, and sister Francie O'Sullivan 3, testing out the new road.

Cory Lowe 5, learns about road safety from Ruebin the road safety bear.