'Exactly What Our Region Needs' – Case For Tauriko West Transport Upgrades Gets Green Light
Speaking at the Ministers announcement, Tauriko Ward Councillor Marten Rozeboom said the endorsement of the investment case is a positive move for the city and region.
Tauranga City Council welcomes the government's announcement that proposed plans for major transport upgrades in Tauriko West have received the green light to move forward.
During a visit to Tauranga yesterday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) Board has endorsed the Tauriko West Road of National Significance investment case so it can proceed to the next stage.
The project includes replacing Ōmanawa Bridge, construction of a new four-lane State Highway 29 and the widening of existing State Highway 29A, along with seven intersection upgrades, including three new interchanges and two overbridges.
Speaking at the Minister's announcement, Tauriko Ward Councillor Marten Rozeboom said the endorsement of the investment case is a positive move for the city and region.
'These upgrades are exactly what our region needs to support economic growth and housing development in Tauranga and the western Bay of Plenty,' said Councillor Rozeboom.
'Improvements to this roading corridor will help relieve congestion on the main route to and from New Zealand's largest port, and improve access to the Tauriko Business Estate, which is experiencing commercial, industrial and employment growth.
'The transport upgrades will also help unlock the development of more, much-needed houses in Tauriko West and the wider Western Corridor over the coming decades.
'Today's announcement gives council and the private sector confidence to continue to invest in core infrastructure and accelerate housing and business development, which in turn will help to address Tauranga's acute housing shortage and affordability issues.'
The Tauriko West project will integrate with the Tauriko Enabling Works which are currently underway to improve safety at intersections of SH29 with Redwood Lane, Belk Road and Cambridge Road, and enable the development of the first 2,400 homes in Tauriko West.
More information about the Tauriko West project can be found on NZTA's website.
While in Tauranga yesterday, Minister Bishop also visited the Pāpāmoa East Interchange site to show his support for the early opening of the eastbound off-ramp.
The off-ramp is expected to open in the second half of 2025, with the overall project due to be completed in 2026.
Once complete, the interchange will alleviate pressure on existing routes and shorten travel time towards Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and destinations in the east, as well as enabling further development in Pāpāmoa East, including the Golden Sands and Wairākei neighbourhoods and The Sands town centre.
webpage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
Government plans universal road user charges for all vehicles by 2027
Petrol powered vehicles pay around 70 cents per litre at the pump as fuel excise duty (FED), while diesel powered, electric and heavy vehicles pay road user charges (RUC), based on distance travelled. Plug in petrol hybrids pay a mix of FED and RUC. The Government's proposed changes to switch all vehicles to RUC will mean they no longer have to run two different schemes and vehicles will be taxed at more equal rates. It will also update RUC's paper-based recording and payment system, to a digital one that is easy to use. 'As simple as playing a Netflix subscription', Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. So, the ultimate goals seem good but how this is going to work in practice is going to be an important thing to get right. Not least because the money people and businesses pay as fuel tax or RUC goes into maintaining existing roads and building new ones via the National Land Transport Fund. The AA supports the move to universal RUC over time, as a fairer way to charge for road use. AA members have shown over many years that they want to see improvements made to the road network. An efficient collection model is hopefully part of the funding system that will deliver roads that are well looked after, resilient and reliable for communities like ours in Northland. Roads like the Warkworth to Whangārei Northland Corridor are going to be critical to our region's future but they come with a hefty price tag. The new RUC system will be crucial to gathering funding for infrastructure that will help people build better lives. There are aspirations that the new technology used under a single RUC system will also allow other road charges like, tolls and time of use congestion charges, might be able to be incorporated into a single payment system. This possibility seems logical, but also raises some privacy issues most particularly around tracking individual vehicles and what data is actually collected. Cost too is an issue. The average age of the New Zealand car is 15 years. There is a great variation in existing technology, and how this new system will fit into all of that. The question also arises about how easily people will transition to a new way of paying for the right to use the road. Excise is collected at the pump while RUC is currently paid for online. There is a question about how the legitimacy of road use is policed. The possibility that RUC will be checked every time you get a WOF raises the question about policing of WOFs. The integrity of the collection system needs to be sound for us to be comfortable that we are all being treated equally and fairly. The AA will be following the work on moving the whole fleet to RUC closely. We want to see costs that are fair and strike the right balance between being affordable, to enable people to travel at a reasonable cost, while also funding the critical road infrastructure our country needs. New Zealand is the first country in the world, to propose a universal RUC, so there is a lot of territory to cover and we are in relatively uncharted waters. My thanks to the NZAA advocacy team for their help with this independent and helpful assessment about how the system might work.
1News
4 days ago
- 1News
'Frustrated locals' lash out: Tauranga parking machines vandalised
"Frustrated locals" have vandalised parking machines in Tauranga in an attempt to stall paid parking, a business owner believes. Four Tauranga City Council parking terminals have been damaged in the past 10 days and will each cost about $2000 to fix. Rutherford Signs director Matt Batchelor believed the two machines on Glasgow St and Third Ave were damaged with hammers. "Frustrated locals have now resorted to vandalising the new, very expensive-looking paid parking terminals with hammers in an effort to delay progress [of paid parking]." Paid parking in the city centre fringe begins on Monday, August 18. ADVERTISEMENT It was meant to start on August 4 but was delayed a fortnight to allow time for residents' permits to be implemented. On-street parking between the eastern end of Fourth Ave and Park St, north of the CBD, will cost $1 an hour for the first two hours and $2 for every subsequent hour until 5pm, to a maximum of $10 on weekdays. New two-hour parking limits also apply to some CBD-fringe streets, as far south as Eighth Ave. A map showing the new paid parking and time limited areas in Tauranga. (Source: Taurangs City Council) Batchelor said his Glasgow St business did not have enough parking for his staff, and they were looking to him to cover the cost. If he were to cover their parking, it would cost $14,400 a year when things were "already tough", he said. Unlike the CBD, the area of Glasgow and First, Second and Third Ave West was primarily industrial, not retail. ADVERTISEMENT "The only people being financially penalised here are the business owners and their staff." Council city centre infrastructure lead Shawn Geard said the estimated cost to repair each machine was $2000 because the machine head would need replacing. A machine on Dive Cres and one on Devonport Rd had also been damaged, he said. The cost of a new machine was $11,500 for a cash machine and $9200 for a contactless card-only machine. The damaged machines would not delay the CBD fringe paid parking, he said. The council appreciated that decisions around paid parking could often result in frustration, but people needed to know vandalising machines did not have an impact on parking enforcement. "Rather, it adds an additional cost to council, and makes it more difficult for residents, workers, customers and visitors to conveniently pay for parking. ADVERTISEMENT "For any person who chooses to express their frustration in this manner, we have CCTV cameras operating throughout the city centre. "Any instances of wilful/intentional damage will be investigated and, where applicable, reported to the police." A report was filed with police about the vandalism of the Devonport Rd machine, and reports would be filed for the three other machines, he said. He hoped the replacement parts would arrive so the machines would be working by Monday. People could pay for parking through the PayMyPark app if the machines were not working. Anyone who had an issue with the app should contact the council, Geard said. The council could not guarantee parking meters would work at all times because of situations such as vandalism. ADVERTISEMENT "If someone parks within a paid parking area, they will still need to ensure they make payment, which may mean needing to find the nearest undamaged meter." A variety of people, including workers, customers and visitors, used Glasgow St and First, Second and Third Aves, Geard said. The extension of paid parking into those areas was to ensure regular turnover of the on-street parks to improve access for everyone. The council aimed to achieve 85% occupancy across all its parking, Geard said. This supported high use but allowed people to find parks when they wanted one. City centre workers were encouraged to use parking buildings, off-street options, or consider public transport and active travel modes such as cycling and walking. Police said anyone who saw property being damaged or vandalised should call 111 if it was happening now or 105 if it was after the fact. ADVERTISEMENT LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
'Frustrated locals' lash out: Tauranga parking meters vandalised
One of four Tauranga City Council parking machines that has been vandalised, shortly before the expansion of paid parking in the city, which applies from 18 August. Photo: Supplied/ LDR - Alisha Evans A map showing the new paid parking and time limited zones in Tauranga, Photo: Supplied/ Tauranga City Council "Frustrated locals" have vandalised parking machines in Tauranga in an attempt to stall the expansion of paid parking, a business owner believes. Four Tauranga City Council parking terminals have been damaged in the past 10 days and will each cost about $2000 to fix. Rutherford Signs director Matt Batchelor believed the two machines on Glasgow Street and Third Avenue were damaged with hammers. "Frustrated locals have now resorted to vandalising the new, very expensive-looking paid parking terminals with hammers in an effort to delay progress [of paid parking]." Paid parking is scheduled to begin for areas on the fringe of the city centre on Monday 18 August. It was meant to start on 4 August but was delayed a fortnight to allow time for residents' permits to be implemented. One of four Tauranga City Council parking machines that was vandalised recently. Photo: Supplied/ LDR - Alisha Evans On-street parking between the eastern end of Fourth Avenue and Park Street, north of the city's centre, will cost $1 an hour for the first two hours and $2 for every subsequent hour until 5pm, to a maximum of $10 on weekdays. New two-hour parking limits also apply to some streets on the fringe of the city centre, as far south as Eighth Avenue. Batchelor said his Glasgow Street business did not have enough parking for his staff, and they were looking to him to cover the cost. If he were to cover their parking, it would cost $14,400 a year, when things were "already tough", he said. Unlike the city centre, the area of Glasgow Street and First, Second and Third avenues west was primarily industrial, not retail. "The only people being financially penalised here are the business owners and their staff." Council city centre infrastructure lead Shawn Geard said the estimated cost to repair each machine was $2000 because the machine head would need replacing. A machine on Dive Crescent and one on Devonport Road had also been damaged, he said. The cost of a new machine was $11,500 for a cash machine and $9200 for a contactless card-only machine. Damaged machines would not delay the new paid parking zones, he said. The council appreciated that decisions around paid parking could often result in frustration, but people needed to know vandalising machines did not have an impact on parking enforcement. "Rather, it adds an additional cost to council, and makes it more difficult for residents, workers, customers and visitors to conveniently pay for parking. "For any person who chooses to express their frustration in this manner, we have CCTV cameras operating throughout the city centre. "Any instances of wilful/intentional damage will be investigated and, where applicable, reported to the police." A report was filed with police about the vandalism of the Devonport Road machine, and reports would be filed for the three other machines, Geard said. He hoped the replacement parts would arrive so the machines would be working by Monday. People could pay for parking through the PayMyPark app if the machines were not working. Anyone who had an issue with the app should contact the council, Geard said. The council could not guarantee parking meters would work at all times because of situations such as vandalism. "If someone parks within a paid parking area, they will still need to ensure they make payment, which may mean needing to find the nearest undamaged meter." A variety of people, including workers, customers and visitors, used Glasgow Street and First, Second and Third avenues, Geard said. The extension of paid parking into those areas was to ensure regular turnover of the on-street parks to improve access for everyone. The council aimed to achieve 85 percent occupancy across all its parking, Geard said. This supported high use but allowed people to find parks when they wanted one. City centre workers were encouraged to use parking buildings, off-street options, or consider public transport and active travel modes such as cycling and walking. Police said anyone who saw property being damaged or vandalised should call 111 if it was happening now, or 105 if it was after the fact. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
