Roadworks that closing State Highway 34 that officially adds 20 minutes travel time between Kawerau and Te Teko has some residents scratching their heads.

Kawerau straight resident Trevor Dean said that, from his point of view it was “chaos”.

“Everyone’s getting quite annoyed about this stupidity of a road works that’s going on.

He said progress appeared to be slow, and traffic management of the area was confusing, with no detour signs at the intersection with Onepu Springs Road to tell people pulling out of there, left onto the highway, that they could not travel that way.

He said many people in Kawerau were upset that the road had been closed entirely rather than left open with stop-go management or traffic lights, particularly as it occurred just when hundreds of people were arriving in town for the Oji Fibre Solutions mill’s annual maintenance shutdown.

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is carrying out a road rebuild between the Tamarangi Drive (SH34) turnoff from SH30 and Charteris Lane, where the road has historically been damaged by flooding. The roadworks are expected to continue until October 25.

Bay of Plenty system manager Sandra King said the agency was strengthening and raising the pavement before resurfacing, enabling safer passage when flooding occured and preventing higher maintenance costs in the future.

The electronic warning sign before the roundabout says the road is closed to heavy vehicles.

The agency fully closed roads for road construction when it was safer for the travelling public and construction crews to do so.

“In this case, large machinery is required and as this road is being raised, there would’ve been a height difference between lanes if we left one lane open, which could have put people at risk,” Ms King said.

“Closing the road to work full width will ultimately create a better-quality outcome and is also much quicker because both sides of the road can be dug up at once.”

The road closure is in place on weekdays from 8am to 4pm.

The official detour communicated by Waka Kotahi for traffic travelling from Kawerau, eastward toward Whakatāne, is to take SH34 west toward Rotoma, before turning onto SH30, a 20 minute detour. While the road is only closed between the SH34-SH30 intersection closest to Te Teko and Charteris Lane, signs, cones and traffic management staff have been set up at the Tamarangi Road roundabout two-and-a-half kilometres west.

“When you leave Kawerau, they’ve got two guys doing road control, just waving to all the cars, not even seeing whether they’re residents or not,” Mr Dean said.

Cones narrow the north-eastern exit of the roundabout with a sign stating that the highway is open to residents only. However, an electronic sign says no heavy vehicles and no effort is made to prevent other vehicles from taking the exit and turning left onto Onepu Springs Road, a much shorter detour than the official one.

Traffic management is in place at the Tamarangi Drive roundabout telling drivers the north-eastern exit is open only to residents, however, the Onepu Springs Road intersection is unsignposted. 

Mr Dean said,because there were no signs at the intersection of Onepu Springs Road and SH34, drivers exiting Onepu Springs Road were unaware the road was closed and travelling two kilometres along the highway before being stopped and turned around.

Mr Dean said, despite road workers had tried to prevent his own family reaching their home one day, pulling out in front of them and shouting at them, “you’re not allowed down here. Turn around”.

“From our point of view, it’s chaos,” he said.

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