Tauranga City Council is “committed” to having the Wairoa Cycleway ready before Christmas –meaning the traffic lights cutting across State highway 2 at Carmichael Rd will be turned on ahead of December 25.
Works on the Wairoa Cycleway started back in May and now the final pieces of the puzzle are being assembled complete it.
Tauranga City Council’s team leader of cycle implementation Karen Hay says during the next two weeks the project team will work on the new signalised pedestrian crossing/traffic lights on SH2 at Carmichael Rd.
‘Triggered by cyclists’
“The new signalised pedestrian crossing will be triggered by cyclists wanting to cross the road, enabling users to safely cross SH2 to Carmichael Rd.
"From there, they can continue on the network of cycle paths at Gordon Carmichael Reserve and into the city,” says Karen.
Weather dependent, Karen says: “We are committed to having the cycleway operational prior to Christmas”.
Yet Western Bay of Plenty DIstrict councillor Margaret Murray-Benge doesn’t think this is the Christmas gift the region needs.
Margaret says she thinks it will be a “great tragedy” if council turns the signalised crossing on before Christmas.
“It’s all very well for people to go cycling, and a lot of people love it.
"But somehow, you’ve got to take into account the fact that people will be in their cars and going to see family and different places, and enjoying their holidays.
"To make that congested road more congested – I think it’s criminal.
"You don’t put obstacles in the way to slow the traffic down because people have got to get home.”
Congestion and hold-ups
Margaret says cyclists don’t need a signalised crossing to cross SH2.
“Cyclists are well able to wait for a break in the traffic and then cross.
It [the state highway] is too congested for too many times of the day to have lights working there for a certain section of the community when they hold up everybody else.”
So what works remain until the SH2 traffic lights will be switched on?
“Implementing and testing the software for the traffic lights, together with some further concreting, line marking and signage.
"The separators for the cycle path are also to be installed,” says Karen.
“All going to plan we’re looking to finish early to mid-December and will have more details available closer to the time.
"If we have wet weather, it could take a bit longer so we’re hoping for great weather.”
Margaret says that putting the lights on SH2 at Carmichael Rd at the moment is “absolutely dumb”.
“I think that that cycleway will be wonderful when it [SH2] becomes a district road – but at the moment, it’s a state highway and should be a priority for motorists on that highway.”
6 comments
margaret
Posted on 03-12-2023 07:40 | By Samwell
Very much looking forward to Margaret Murray-Benge retiring.
Engineering at its best ?
Posted on 03-12-2023 10:32 | By jh
The cycle bridge was built on the left side of the SH2 so cyclist could continue to Carmichael road without crossing SH2, that was common sense. Then someone found that crossing the entrance to the Marae could be a problem for cyclists. So rather fixing that problem council staff decided to build a new track under the SH2, around the problem and a controlled crossing near Carmichael Rd, problem solved at great cost to ratepayers. Money could have been spent to fix the problem at Marae entrance.
Margaret
Posted on 03-12-2023 11:13 | By Accountable
Where were you at the beginning of this project? It's all to late to call the Tauranga City Council out now when the project is basically finished. Professional Council people such as yourself should have your finger on the pulse at all times. The average person is too busy with their own occupations to be able to keep these unruly councils in place.
Too little too late
Posted on 04-12-2023 07:12 | By Otumoetai Resident
Where were you Margaret when this whole debacle was being played out over the last 3 years or so with Tauranga Council. TCC decided to block any input from the community on this and talk exclusively with Wairoa Marae who did a U turn and decided a cycle way crossing their driveway was a no go. The office of the Obudsman is still reviewing a complaint over this whole process and hopefully some heads will roll at TCC like Karen Hay and Brendan Bisley who run the transport team at TCC and were behind this wasteful spending of millions of dollars to appease one Nimby party who holds a lot of sway with the council
Ignorance everywhere
Posted on 04-12-2023 09:19 | By Ziggaty
To start Margret Benge is a councilor for Western Bay and not Tauranga. She is expressing her opinion that reflects what most of us who use this road daily are thinking. Why TCC could not wait until the new road is installed only reflects the wisdom of the people we have in TCC.
BTW just how are cyclists now going to get access to the cycleway across the Wairoa Bridge? Any ideas anyone? Perhaps another set of lights near the bridge? The lack of common sense in TCC astounds me any many others.
Common sense.
Posted on 04-12-2023 12:58 | By morepork
There is little point in berating someone because you consider them "late" to a debate; their expressed opinion is either valid or it isn't. Margaret Murray-Benge has provided reason and common sense in a number of cases for Western Bay Council and I believe her observation on this is probably valid. Nobody can argue that the Wairoa Bridge development is a paragon of Council thinking and implementation. Margaret is expressing an opinion regarding timing and she gave her reasons for holding that opinion. She makes a valid point that prioritising bicycles over cars here is not going to sit well with the community.
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