Councils accused of creating more emissions as road trial rumbles on

Thursday, 29 September 2022

A cul-de-sac has been in place on Links Avenue in Mount Maunganui since November 2021.

Councils in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty have been accused of failing to provide an alternative to driving in New Zealand’s fifth-biggest city.

A sustainability charity based in the city said recent road trials have forced drivers to spend more time in their vehicles and create higher emissions as a result.

Citing the Links Avenue cul-de-sac trial in Mount Maunganui, Sustainable Bay of Plenty claimed the road’s closure had a “massive flow-on effect” to the wider region.

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Congestion on Mount Maunganui's Links Avenue caused safety issues.

The trial began in November 2021 after a number of parents of school children raised safety concerns about the proximity of shared path users to traffic, which was peaking at around 7500 cars a day.

The cul-de-sac is formed of two bus lanes, and anyone found using them illegally is fined $150.

To date, 21,511 infringement notices worth over $3.2 million have been issued, with 6978 paid or under payment agreement and 5148 waived. The remainder are unpaid fines or have been lodged with the court for collection.

In an update from Tauranga City Council earlier this month, director of transport Brendan Bisley said the trial had “achieved the outcomes of reducing traffic volumes” close to their target of 2500 vehicle movements per day. He also hinted at a “behaviour shift”.

Situated in the Arataki area of Mount Maunganui, Links Avenue saw a second trial put in place at the end of March following analysis and road maintenance. New measures include a 30km per hour speed limit for emergency vehicles, buses, bikes and motorbikes only.

A community panel, made up of 12 members, were subsequently tasked with finding a permanent solution to the street’s safety issues.

However, it is the environmental impact that needs to be addressed according to Sustainable Bay of Plenty trustee Jo Wills.

Speaking on the Future Buzz podcast, she said: “One street has been closed, but it’s had a massive flow-on effect - not just on the Arataki community, but the wider community too.

“I support people getting out of their cars, 100 per cent, but you’ve got to provide an alternative.

“You can’t take something away and say it’s for the greater good without providing alternatives, and that’s the whole failing. The system isn’t working.”

The road in question is in Mount Maunganui.

Wills urged the authorities to consider the city’s transport system as Tauranga’s growing population looks for more ways to move around the city.

“One of my concerns is that people are being forced to take longer routes to work or home,” she said. “That means people are in their cars for longer. We’ve gone from closing one road to forcing people to generate more emissions in their vehicles.

“I cycle, and I use my car when the weather’s horrendous, but the times that I’ve tried the bus, I have been let down every single time. We all need to be somewhere at a certain time, but sometimes those buses don’t even turn up.

“Transport-related emissions are one of the biggest problems this city is facing from a climate change perspective, and now we’re being forced to create more. That’s really of concern to me.”

A Tauranga City Council spokesperson said a recently conducted public survey on the Links Avenue trial demonstrated “a high level of compliance and increased feeling of safety as a result”.

“The results were very positive for the success of the trial in achieving a reduced traffic volume,” they said.

“Council has no further public surveys planned, but we understand that the community panel is intending to do community engagement as part of the ongoing work that it is undertaking. This work may provide council with some further insight.”

The spokesperson added that the current Links Avenue trial will be in place until solutions are found and implemented.

Wills also claimed the city’s authorities have failed to invest in buses as a “viable form of transport”.

“Links Avenue is a symptom of a bigger problem,” she said. “There are so many roads like this around the wider community. Roads should connect people, but what we continually focus on is building roads for cars.

“How is this addressing the problem of congestion, and of too many people having no alternative when it comes to other forms of transport?”

In May this year, council was presented with a 5627 signature petition calling for refunds for fines received for using Links Avenue’s bus lane.