Tauranga City Council is supporting the National Party’s announcement that it would prioritise the construction of four-lane highways linking Whangārei, Auckland and Hamilton to Tauranga.

If elected in October, the party says it would build the road, as four different projects, over the next decade.

The highway would link Whangārei and Port Marsden, Warkworth and Wellsford, and further south from Cambridge to Piarere, and on State Highway 29 to Tauriko West.

Tauranga commission chair Anne Tolley welcomes the prospect of the Tauriko West SH29 component beginning in the next 4-10 years.

While there is a need for more detail about the timeframes and costs of the proposal, it is a good fit with the council’s desire to remove the SH29 chokepoints affecting freight and traffic movement to the city and Port of Tauranga from Tauriko and the central North Island, she says in a statement.

“The SmartGrowth councils and partners recently endorsed a Waka Kotahi business case to redevelop SH29 which would have a profound positive effect on the region’s economy.”

Tauranga commission chair Anne Tolley said the SH29 development is “crucial for the city”. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

In June, Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council endorsed the ‘Tauriko SH29 Network Connections Detailed Business Case’.

The business case will go to the Waka Kotahi board this month for endorsement and the Government will make the final decision about whether to include it in the National Land Transport Programme.

The potential $2.8 billion upgrade to State Highway 29/29a could unlock land for 30,000 more homes and 11,500 jobs.

Waka Kotahi is proposing the upgrades be rolled out in four stages with a potential completion date of 2050. But the councils want it completed within the decade because the region is already constrained by a lack of infrastructure.

The upgrades in the business case include six-laning SH29a between Barkes Corner and Takitimu Drive including two dedicated bus lanes. Replacing the Omanawa Bridge on SH29, Waka Kotahi have suggested a two-lane bridge but the councils’ have stated their preference for four lanes.

Also widening of SH36 between Lakes Boulevard and SH29A including bus lanes and a new SH29 corridor for inter-regional traffic and freight between Redwood Lane and Takitimu Drive. The existing highway between Redwood Lane and Takitimu Drive would then become a local road.

National’s ‘Transport for the Future’ plan stated it would upgrade “State Highway 29 in the western corridor of Tauranga, with four lanes at specific growth trigger points and side road access limited to improve through-put, with rationalised and grade separated intersections”.

The plan says it would fund the $1.9 billion project using “value capture” and “cost recovery tools” in partnership with Tauranga City Council.

National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says the Waka Kotahi business case includes further work to SH29 than their announcement yesterday. The party had used Option B from the business case.

National Party transport spokesman Simeon Brown says tolls would be a tool to pay for the upgrades. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone.

“The higher cost of this business case reflects that additional work, including public transport upgrades to SH29A and SH36,” says Brown. 

“National’s ‘Transport for the Future’ plan … is our plan for the next ten years and sets aside funding to upgrade just SH29 at this stage.”

“Our figure of $1.9 billion, came from the Government, and we have used the most conservative publicly available costings.” 

Brown referenced a written parliamentary question from October 25, 2022, “What is the estimated cost of Option B - offline of the Tauriko Network Plan?”

Former Transport Minister Michael Wood responded: “I am advised that the estimated cost of Option B of the Tauriko Network Plan is approximately $1.9 billion.”   

Asked if cost recovery meant tolling the road, Brown replied: “Tolls will be one tool, alongside value capture tools as well, to ensure where major roading upgrades unlock housing that the cost of that infrastructure is contributed to by those who benefit from it such as landowners who will then be able to develop the land.” 

Tauranga has two of the country’s three toll roads the Tauranga Eastern Link in Pāpāmoa and Takitimu Drive in Tauranga.

“This project would link directly to the four-lane highway system proposed by National and apart from delivering significant transport network improvements, would also unlock 20,000-plus new homes and facilitate at least 6500 extra jobs,” says Tolley.

“That SH29 development is crucial for the city and it needs to be delivered significantly faster than the 2050 timeframe set out in the current business case.”

An investment programme which would link the North Island’s economic powerhouses with an efficient highway system makes sense, and in this case, it would also facilitate homes, jobs and development, as well as improved safety and resilience, she says.

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