Two weeks, $1.2m in fines from trial
A road trial closing one end of a popular Mt Maunganui through road has racked up $1.2 million in fines in just two weeks.
Tauranga City Council is trialling a cul-de-sac on Links Ave that closed the eastern end of the street to through traffic, except buses and authorised vehicles.
The cul-de-sac is formed by two bus lanes and anyone that drives through them will receive a $150 fine.
In the first two weeks of the trial, council sent out 8500 warning letters and has now issued 8000 fines totalling $1.2 million.
Links Ave is a travel corridor for three schools, Mt Maunganui College, Omanu School and Mt Maunganui Intermediate. The schools have a combined roll of around 2500 students.
The street runs parallel to Maunganui Rd and Oceanbeach Rd and was used by drivers in peak times to avoid traffic queues on the other roads.
The increased vehicle volume raised safety concerns for the children using the road, which prompted council to implement two cul-de-sac trials.
The first ran for six weeks, late last year and the cul-de-sac was in the middle of Links Ave. Data showed the trial successfully reduced traffic but the placement of the cul-de-sac was unpopular.
The current trial will last at least four months and has attracted just as much vitriol from the community.
The huge number of infringements prompted Matt Nicholson to start a petition calling for council to refund all fines incurred during the trial.
As of May 4 the petition had 3758 signatures.
Nicholson was fined when travelling east towards Concord Ave.
He said the new roundabout at Solway Pl just before the bus lanes is confusing and the signage that the road is closed isn’t clear.
‘‘To say it’s confusing would be an understatement,’’ said Nicholson.
‘‘Over 16,000 people not seeing a sign clearly indicates that there’s not enough of that signage.’’
Council transport director, Brendan Bisley said drivers will pass three to five signs before they get to the bus lanes, depending on the direction of traffic.
‘‘When they get to the bus lane itself, there are large areas of road surfacing painted green with the words BUS LANE written,’’ he said.
Nicholson said council should just give out warnings rather than fines and he hoped they will ‘‘do the right thing’’ and refund people for the fines issued.
Jacqui, who did not want her last name published, lives on Links Avenue near the cul-de-sac, and she and two of her children have been fined. She said finding $150 out of her budget isn’t easy and the further travel caused by the closure is costing an extra $20 a week in petrol.
Her commute to work in Brookfield at midday also takes at least 15 minutes longer. Other trips that would normally take 10 mins are taking up to 35 minutes, she said.
Pā pā moa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairperson Philip Brown said people can’t see the point of having an ‘‘important’’ road permanently closed when the safety concerns are around a twohour period on weekday mornings.
‘‘It just seems ridiculous that you have to close it for 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’’ said Brown.
He has received feedback from Oceanbeach Rd residents that they’re unhappy with their road being blocked up by traffic for longer periods.
Bisley said: ‘‘If the trial was to remain in longer term, changes would be made to Oceanbeach Rd to look at improving traffic flows at key points’’.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.