Safety improvements will be made to Mount Maunganui’s Links Avenue, but the controversial cul-de-sac that earnt $5m in fines will remain.

The residential street runs parallel to State Highway 2 and the eastern end of the street was turned into a cul-de-sac in response to residents’ concerns over high traffic volumes when children travelled to and from school.

The closure between Solway Place and Concord Avenue is formed by two bus lanes, with access only for busses, motorbikes and emergency vehicles from 7am-10am and 2pm-4pm weekdays.

General traffic can use the lanes at all other times. If they access it during the restricted hours they will be issued a $150 fine by Tauranga City Council.

Initially it was a 24/7 ban but this was relaxed in December 2022.

Since the cul-de-sac was installed in March 2022, 34,299 fines have been issued totalling $5.14m.

Of those fines, $2.55m has been paid in full and $1.28m was outstanding.

The council has waived 8779 fines equalling $1.32m, according to data provided to Local Democracy Reporting.

Transitional safety improvements for the street, costing $450,000, will see the cycle lane protected from traffic with plastic bollards and street markings.

Improvements would be made outside Mount Maunganui Intermediate and two bus stops would also be removed from the street.

An artist’s impression of the Links Ave safety improvements. Photo: Supplied/TCC.

The commission approved the changes at council meeting on Monday.

Cycle plan implementation team leader Karen Hay said the next step was to re-evaluate the cul-de-sac following the opening of the SH2 Baypark to Bayfair Link.

The council put the cul-de-sac in place while Bay Link was under construction and said they would assess it once the link was complete.

People used Links Ave to avoid congestion on SH2 and before the closure there was up to 9000 vehicles a day using the street.

Hay said they needed to wait for traffic to normalise after it opened and would do traffic assessments until March.

Commission chair Anne Tolley said she was worried council was testing the “nomalisation” too soon seeing because there were still traffic disruptions from Bay Link construction.

Hay responded they would extend the traffic evaluations before making a recommendation to council about reopening.

The council was also looking at the possibility of resident exemptions, which would be unique for Tauranga, she said.

“Some [residents] had some real challenges in accessing local amenities, going to the doctor and their friends’ visits. We hear that loud and clear so we’re looking at what options exist.”

Commissioner Shadrach Rolleston wanted consultation about the changes to continue with the community. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Commissioner Shadrach Rolleston wanted reassurance that once the changes were implemented the community would continue to be consulted.

Hay said part of the transitional changes was to test and get feedback from the community.

Links Ave is also a bus corridor with 200 buses per day servicing the street and wider area.

The buses combined with heavy traffic prompted residents to approach council in 2018 with their concerns for children’s safety.

Tolley said it “beggars belief” that Links Avenue was determined as the bus route and cycle route without talking to the community and developing the safety measures first.

She had concerns about how many buses would use the street as public transport increased and the impact it would have on children going to and from the three schools in the area.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council, that runs the buses, and Tauranga City needed look and think about the location of the routes, she said.

"The biggest complaint from residents, that we heard constantly, was that the buses used to go down the state highway. That's where they should be in that sort of numbers.”

Construction of the improvements will take place from April 13 to 28 during the school holidays.

In April staff will report back to council about traffic volumes and resident exemptions.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.