The path to a more functional and beautified Cameron Rd may not be so simple, with city residents starting to notice hitches in council's 'upgrades”.

Tauranga City centre worker Shayne Spicer was walking along Cameron Rd recently when he noticed what he believes to be a footpath fail in the new paving outside St Mary's Catholic Church & Centre.

The presumed error is a mismatch in the middle of the curbing line within the footpath.

'Obviously one [contractor] started at one end and one started at the other end – over different production periods I presume – but I wouldn't of thought it'd be too hard to actually make them meet up in the middle,” says Shayne.

'They had one job you know, which was to lay a nice piece of curbing and they mucked it up.”

'I can't help but shake my head in wonder at the amount of money, we the tax/rate-payers are spending, and yet the contractors can't seem to get the basics right.”

The footpath fail that Shayne Spicer noticed, showing the curbing line meeting at a mismatch. Photo: John Borren.

The kerbing glitch has got Shayne stumped.

'I've got no explanation or no logical reason to see why that would have to happen like that unless someone had made a mistake.”

Others have their theories, however.

'One comment I had from somebody was that it could be a pot plant or a grass passing lane because it's got wider at that [mid] point and the grasses can over take each other!”

The footpath fail that Shayne Spicer noticed, showing the curbing line meeting at a mismatch. Photo: John Borren.

So what does council have to say for this concreted gem?

'The area shown on the photograph of the stepped kerbing is an error that will be fixed at the cost of the contractor,” says Tauranga City Council's director of transport Brendan Bisley.

'Council is focused on completing all remaining works on Cameron Rd and will come back to complete any defects once the overall contract is complete.

'The irony of it is that they're building all these big improvements and roadworks and I would've thought it'd be a pretty simple matter to make something simple like that happen nicely," says Shayne.