Tech companies, restaurants, cafés and furniture stores are all feeling the pinch after 26 months of roadworks on Tauranga's Cameron Road.

Stage one of the Cameron Road project is due to be completed later this year, after beginning in April 2021.

It aims to include part time bus lanes, a new two-way cycleway, and to make the area more walkable, according to Tauranga City Council.

However, businesses are barely making ends meet in the meantime, with the impact the roadworks is having on their revenue.

The project is currently forecast to cost around $97.5 million and runs 3.5km from Harington Street to 17th Ave.

That's about $27,857 per metre of work.

Techlord Technology is one locally owned Cameron Road business feeling the impact, with owner Sushil Acharya saying he is "about 80 per cent down" on revenue.

Sushil says his business used to be located on Wharf Road, until it became 'extremely quiet” during Covid-19.

He then decided to move to Cameron Road, and pay more rent in the hopes of attracting more customers.

Sushil says he paid $40,000 in moving costs, and to have bollards and furniture installed at his new location on Cameron Road. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

'Now, after 'months upon months” of continuous roadworks, Sushil says he is 'barely scraping by”.

'We're about 70 to 80 per cent down on customers. We do have someone visit us from time to time to give us updates and hear our concerns, but I don't think there's much even they can do.

'The council is 100 per cent at fault for this. There's no parking, customers are struggling to come in, who am I supposed to blame? The big businesses can survive, but I think the council needs to help us out more.

'I have four staff I need to look after and who rely on me. If they don't at least have a meeting with us, I'm not sure how we're supposed to get by.”

Sushil says he had two car parks outside his building which he considered when taking on the business.

'The council has told me they cannot create a ramp to go onto the premises to access them now, so customers can no longer access [the parks]. They've pretty much ruined my life at this point.”

'It cost me $40,000 to move from Wharf Road to Cameron Road. I don't have the capital to move again.”

Puran Singh owns Punjab Express located at 302/304 Cameron Road.

Punjab Express owner Puran Singh. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

Puran says the roadworks have caused his business to be about '60 per cent” down on revenue.

'They have taken ages to build the road. They started here on my side in about October last year near 2nd and 3rd Ave, and they still haven't finished it. I think they've dug outside our business about three or four times now.

'Before the road works, there was Covid-19, so we haven't really had a break. We are really struggling.”

Alec Greenslade is the co-owner of Greenslades Furniture, located at 287 Cameron Road. He says his family-owned business has been on Cameron Road for over 30 years.

Co-owner of Greenslades Furniture Alec Greenslade. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

'We're very lucky our customers still make a real effort to come to us, but parking is a real challenge for them. The roadworks has certainly affected us.

'The Cameron Road Project team have kept us in the loop pretty consistently, but our general feeling is the roadworks have been really tough on a lot of businesses along Cameron Road.

'It had a huge impact on us, but it also has been underway for a very long time now. Everyone in the store comments on just how long it has been now.”

Alec says the businesses along Cameron Road all keep in touch about the roadworks, but he has noticed they are starting to 'drop like flies”.

'Unfortunately, not everyone is as well established and as lucky as we have been. We've seen a lot of places close their doors. It's a real shame.”

Elizabeth Café owner Connie Richards says after a year, she is 'sick of talking about” the ongoing works.

Elizabeth Café owner Connie Richards. Photo: Supplied/SunLive.

'As one can imagine, the roadworks has had a huge impact on us. Our sales have been down, especially on weekends. We're very lucky to have our businesses upstairs from Monday to Friday.

'For some of our older customers, it's too hard now for them to come in. People come in all the time and say how hard it is to get to the café.

'There was a couple of months where we were down between 15 to 20 per cent when the roadworks was directly outside. Following straight on from Covid-19, its made owning a business pretty unenjoyable.

'We have an engineer dine in every so often and even he has said he can't comprehend why they are blocking off both sides of the road at certain points.

'I've had various meetings with the project managers and other business, and I'm totally all for the roadworks being done. My issue is the lack of urgency, and the lack of nightworks which they are now bringing back.

'We've just been expected to continue through such a crap environment with no compensation.

'It makes us feel like the small fry against the big dog who doesn't even really care.”

Last week, Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell hosted a public meeting on the roadworks. Uffindell says 'significant anger” was expressed at a 'lack of good faith engagement” from Tauranga City Council.

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

Uffindell pointed out that the New Zealand Transport Agency agreed to fund a significant proportion of the initial costs and had a big say in the project.

'NZTA and Michael Wood believe Wellington knows best and are intent on forcing their anti-car, pro-cycle ideological dream on Tauranga and they are completely out of step with local realities.”

When approached by SunLive, NZTA declined to comment.

Uffindell says there was frustration at the fact no one from Tauranga City Council, the commissioners or NZTA had shown up to the meeting.

'Frustration at TCC was loud and clear and there were numerous calls for a return to local democracy immediately.”

According to Uffindell, the crowd was clear on the night of the meeting.

'[They want] no more cycleways for ‘ghosts' as one young audience member put it, to get realistic about Tauranga's traffic flows, stop hurting he CBD and local businesses, and stop the ideological crusade being waged to rid the streets of cars by making it unbearable to drive on.”

Tauranga City Council director of transport Brendan Bisley says while the Cameron Road project has many benefits, it 'is not” going to ease traffic for people who travel by car along this route in the short term.

Tauranga City Council director of transport Brendan Bisley. Photo: Buzzworthy.

'The main goals of this project are to make Cameron Road safer and more attractive and provide more ways to move to support growth. To fix congestion, we need to provide more ways for people to move so that not everyone is reliant on their cars.

'Our city is growing fast, and we need a transport network that supports this growth and keeps people safe when moving around.

'We need to rethink the way we move and give people more options to use public transport, cycle, scooter and walk.

'The Building our future - Cameron Road, Te Papa project will help address Tauranga's growth, revitalise a key part of our city, and provide more transport options so people don't have to be so car dependent, all things the community has said they would like.

'The Cameron Road upgrade is a two-stage project including construction of new part-time bus lanes, a two-way cycleway, and safer crossings. Stormwater and wastewater systems are also being upgraded.”

Bisley says between 2015 and 2019, there were 293 crashes, one death and 88 people injured, 12 of which were classed as serious.

'This major upgrade is designed to ensure everyone feels safe using Cameron Road, no matter who they are or how they are moving.”