Anyone who commutes to work in Tauranga will have noticed the city's roads clogging up during peak times.
What used to be a straight run has turned into long periods travelling at a slow crawl near Tauranga's main intersections. Statistics support the general feeling many have that traffic congestion is getting worse, in the city.
Figures from the NZ Transport Agency show that Tauranga traffic volumes grew by 9.7 per cent in the year to September, with the Bay of Plenty region up 8.4 per cent.
Congested roads, it seems, are one of the downsides to living in one of the fastest growing areas in the country.
Tauranga has cemented its position as the fifth largest city in the country - overtaking Dunedin last year. Rapid growth has seen the city's population rise from 79,800 residents in 1996 to 128,200 last year.
Commenting on the milestone, Tauranga deputy mayor Kelvin Clout described it as an ego boost for the city's residents but noted the city was experiencing "growing pains" in the form of traffic jams and rising property prices.
Thankfully, traffic congestion is on the city council's radar - and it's willing to seek outside expertise to tackle the problem.
A new Tauranga City Council committee dedicated to finding solutions to the city's increasingly congested roads could be expanded by the addition of three non-voting members.
Transport committee chairman Rick Curach proposes to add a councillor from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Western Bay District Council, plus a staff member from the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The newly elected council decided last year to strengthen decision-making by allowing committees to appoint outside expertise, either permanently or on a temporary project-by-project basis.
The idea, says Curach, is to get some integrated thinking on the issue.
A co-ordinated approach makes sense. The regional council is in charge of public transport and regional transport planning, while the agency is responsible for critical highway links through Tauranga.
Why wouldn't you want to draw on their expertise and work together to develop an integrated solution to a complex and growing problem?