Options for access
and to see the transport agency adapting their project to make it safer and easier for more people to travel through this area,” he said.
Cycle advocacy group Bike Tauranga chairman Kevin Kerr was pleased with the news and acknowledged the community in the agency’s decision.
“The community has pushed and pushed to have an underpass option in the Bay Link project, and it’s great that they have been listened to,” he said.
Sustainable Business Network Bay of Plenty regional manager Glen Crowther believed the right decision had been made.
“If you have got something that is working and hundreds of people use ● More than 141,000 pedestrians used the underpass in 2017 — 72 per cent more than the 82,000 in 2011.
● The number of cyclists has tripled — from 14,000 in 2011 to 44,000 cyclists in 2017. ● Key features include the construction of two flyovers and improvements to the SH29A and Truman Lane roundabout, and the Bayfair roundabout.
it and that number is only going to increase, it seems retrograde to take it away and not replace it,” he said.
Crowther said the new development at Owens Place meant more people would use the underpass to cross the highway to get to Bayfair.
He said it was critical to have a safe way of crossing the road if the main highway for the cycle network would come from Girven Rd and down Matapihi.
“It is going to turn into such a key cycle route,” he said. “It is good to see when these projects are reassessed we end up with a good result for the community.”
Crowther said the waiting game was now on, including for a bus priority lane.
Mount Maunganui cyclist Jo Wills said a separated pedestrian and cycle underpass was fantastic.
“It is a completely car-free path through a really busy roundabout,” she said. “It means our cycle route is continued, which is what we want.”
Wills said she sometimes used the current underpass to get to work from the Mount to Tauranga, and her partner used it daily.
“If the underpass wasn’t there I would not go that way into town. It keeps that option opened up for me.”