Arterial pumps new life into town
For towns like Taupō the word bypass can evoke two meanings: avoid, circumvent, dodge or evade; or a procedure akin to heart surgery that allows traffic to flow past a blockage.
Since motorways first arrived in New Zealand, various towns have found themselves on State Highway 1, and then bumped off it. For some, exit arrows and offramps are the only clues that they still exist.
This year, Paremata, Pukerua Bay and Paekākāriki were the latest towns to be bypassed when the Transmission Gully motorway opened north of Wellington.
What fate can they now expect, and will it be the same result seen in Taupō since the East Taupō Arterial (ETA) was opened in 2010?
When Taupō opted for a bypass, there was with a good deal of trepidation about the economic effect on the tourist town, said Taupō District Council chief executive Gareth Green. That fear swiftly evaporated, as trucks diverted around the town centre, improving it in the eyes, ears and noses of those walking around town, or relaxing by the lake.
‘‘The reason for wanting to bypass was very much about reclaiming the town centre and reclaiming our lakefront,’’ Green said. ‘‘You’d sit there having a wine or a beer in the lakefront bars, and there’d be stock trucks with all associated smells and aromas running past between you and the lake.
‘‘At that point, one of the most common complaints we had when we did visitor surveys was around the noise and vibrations from night-time traffic from our lakeside motels and hotels.’’
Fears Taupō would be ruined disappeared overnight, he said.
People kept coming, people kept stopping, and people started lingering as the town became a more pleasant place to be, without the wafting stench of cattle transporters. ‘‘What that means is that people in a nicer place … are spending more time, and therefore more money.’’
In hindsight, he said they should have made the bypass longer to avoid residential areas.
Recently, the bridge over the Waikato River at the north end of Taupō reached the same traffic volumes as when it was part of State Highway 1, due to residential growth. ‘‘If it were still a state highway, that would have been a congestion point. So it’s been positive for us,’’ Green said.
Towncentre Taupō general manager Julie McLeod said Taupō is an iconic destination because of its lakefront. She has the job of reclaiming the lakefront and merging it with Taupō ’s retail district.
Lake Terrace was once part of the state highway, and is being transformed into a lakeside park.
‘‘That bit of road is going to be covered over in green space and cultural space, creating this worldclass
‘‘If you knew that this is the type of town Taupō was going to become, you would never have put a road along there in the first place.’’
Julie McLeod
Towncentre Taupō general manager
lakefront in front of that whole dining area,’’ McLeod said.
Without the bypass that could ‘‘absolutely not’’ have happened.
‘‘The idea is that if you knew that this is the type of town Taupō was going to become, you would never have put a road along there in the first place,’’ she said.
‘‘Taupō is a very iconic destination, to be able to come and sit along our lakefront, drive along the lakefront, shop and dine on the lakefront, that’s a big draw card in and of itself.’’
Now, she says, it is a destination, rather than being part of a journey. ‘‘And so we really had to back ourselves knowing that people want to come here. They’re not happy to just drive by. We want them to go ‘ooh, look, it’s pretty, let’s stay’.’’