Public meeting to address SH2 concerns

A serious crash on SH2 earlier this year. Supplied photo.

People concerned about the state of State Highway 2 are being encouraged to attend a public meeting in Omokoroa this weekend.

Organised by Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller and National's transport spokesperson Jami-Lee Ross, the aim of the meeting is to address concerns over the 'lack of investment into the Tauranga Northern Link”.

'Our community has waited patiently for this road for many year, and just as it was due to commence Labour has pulled the rug out from under their feet,” says Todd.

'This is New Zealand's deadliest stretch of State Highway, yet somehow it doesn't seem to be a priority for the Government. How many more accidents do we need to see?

'Those who drive this road can't afford to wait for a change of Government to get the job done, but with Transport Ministers Phil Twyford's priorities clearly lying in Auckland it's clear they are going to have to.”

'It is simply not good enough.”

'The local community is rightly concerned over the direction the current Government's transport policy has taken and what that means for the planned upgrade of the Tauranga Northern Line, one of New Zealand's most dangerous road,” says Jami-Lee.

'National committed to the stretch of State Highway 2 by investing $520 million in 2016.”

'This included $286 million to upgrade the Tauranga Northern Link, $85 million worth of safety improvements designed to reduce death and serious injury crashes and up to $150 million to provide for future traffic growth, paving the way for an upgrade between Omokoroa and Te Puna.”

'At the election last year we also committed to upgrade the road between Tauranga and Katikati to a four lane expressway engineered to the highest standards to become a much safer and more efficient stretch of highway.”

'In contrast, the current Government has ripped over $5 billion out of the state highway budget, placed further work on upgrading this road under review, has halted the procurement process and has promised only $87 million over five years for safety improvements.”

The public meeting is being held at the Omokoroa Settlers Hall on Sunday September 16 from 4.30pm onwards.

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8 comments

meeting

Posted on 12-09-2018 08:00 | By dumbkof2

how about a public meeting to address the idiot drivers. yesterday i was doing 80ks in 80 k area when i was passed by an idiot on double yellow lines on a corner. so dont tell me the roads need fixing.


Emotional politicking

Posted on 12-09-2018 08:41 | By nerak

Todd, I realise that we can only attribute 4 yrs to you as Nat MP, so it is not fair to blame you for 9 yrs of Nat in/activity. I am just so disappointed that you are using this highly emotive topic to grandstand, and truly thought your core values in life were well above this. And to hang on the coattails of the upcoming 'bridge march' on Sunday only confirms thoughts re politicking. Time to remind you that nothing in the way of 'better' roads will ever compensate for poor, inattentive, impatient, inconsiderate driving.


Todd

Posted on 12-09-2018 11:59 | By Merlin

How much did National do to the road you are politicking over their 3 terms.Answer NOTHING except to use it for the election and promise do something that was still to late.You should have got off your pedestal and had something achieved in the nine years of National government.


Avr

Posted on 12-09-2018 13:11 | By Anton

dumbkof2 . There are idiots and there was no accident, but be sure a lot of innocent people were victim of the bad road, It is not a road for the amount of traffic what is using it. If you have to cross the road it is like Russian roulette.


Not willing to gamble

Posted on 12-09-2018 14:36 | By Growler

You cannot take the idiot out of reckless driving, you can however create preventative measures to minimise these probable events. There are careless drivers all over the country. It just seems baffling that they are all choosing this stretch of road, to drive even more recklessly and kill innocent people in head-on collisions. Facts are this road is not long functioning with current traffic volumes. One of many points is this road is in violation of the number of vehicles using it daily. I have been informed that is a road goes over 13k per day , and therefore it needs to be downgraded in status/name and speed, or upgraded in capacity. How does 25k plus per day sound. Statistically everyone is at high% risk using this STATE HIGHWAY, with 1000's of residential properties leading right onto a 'highway' let alone all the intersections.


@growler

Posted on 12-09-2018 18:35 | By Slim Shady

Disagree. We can and should take the idiots out of driving. Lock them up, ban them forever. Use the bus or walk. We are too soft on idiots, and they are a drain on all resources. The roads are fine for 95%+. Get rid of the idiots. The benefits will be felt across many areas, not just roads.


Actually

Posted on 12-09-2018 19:29 | By Neiliies

...National had been doing a lot of work behind the scenes - they had the funding available and tenders were in for this job. When the new government got in they immediately put a stop to many large roading projects that had funding and tenders in, this one included - this is a fact that you can check with many of the top roading contractors


anton

Posted on 12-09-2018 20:15 | By dumbkof2

the road dose not claim victims, it is the idiot drivers that cause victims


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