A plan to trial a one-way system around the north end of Mount Maunganui is struggling to survive after one of the main features of the scheme looked impossible to achieve.

Instead of gaining up to 14 carparks by introducing angle parking into The Mall on Pilot Bay, Tauranga City Council traffic engineers discovered they could not fit everything into the street's 11-metre width.

Councillors wanted to fit a one-way system up the street, angle parking and a two-way cycle cruiseway, but traffic engineers found all three could not fit.

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The only option to save the other two elements was to retain parallel parking - which meant losing one carpark.

Papamoa councillor Steve Morris, sensing the council would be on a hiding to nothing by seeking public feedback on the one-way proposal, argued for the scheme to be dropped.

He told yesterday's Transport Committee meeting that the idea of a more attractive one-way environment, more carparks and the cycle cruiseway had whetted the appetite of councillors.

But going out for consultation on a plan that kept parallel parking, with fewer rather than more parks, was not a good idea, he said.

''I know what the answer is going to be.''

It would be good for cyclists but it would be harder to move around, The Mall residents would lose the freedom of turning both ways and it would increase traffic on Maunganui Rd.

The plan was that if the one-way system ending at the Adams Ave roundabout with Maunganui Rd gained public support, and worked in practice, the council would then consider making Marine Parade one way to Banks Ave.

Both Banks Ave and Salisbury Ave to the Victoria Rd intersection were ruled out for one-way systems because the cruiseway would have meant losing all 27 carparks.

Morris also argued that the big increase in traffic through the Mount Shopping Centre would annoy retailers and was not conducive to a positive retail environment.

Ex-Mount Mainstreet manager and city councillor Leanne Brown, who was not a member of the committee, spoke from the sidelines to say that retailers would like the extra traffic flow.

Council transportation manager Martin Parkes was asked about introducing parking time limits on Pilot Bay since the council was unable to increase the number of carparks.

He said it could introduce some timing in certain places if councillors had the appetite to do it. However, it would need to be part of a wider parking review in the area.

After hearing from the council experts, committee chairman Rick Curach said he was not 100 per cent satisfied that it would not work. The committee voted 4-3 to defer making a decision until next month.

He was joined by Councillor Bill Grainger who backed a site visit, saying: ''Of course it can be done''. The other supporters were Mayor Greg Brownless and Councillor Catherine Stewart.

Opposing were councillors Terry Molloy, Larry Baldock and Steve Morris.

Councillor Molloy, harking back to a discussion earlier in the meeting on another topic, said they had just been criticising road transport authorities for paralysis by analysis. ''We are jumping right back into the pool. We are doing exactly what we're being very critical of in others.''


Traffic flow impacts from The Mall to Adams Ave roundabout one-way system
-South-bound morning peak through Mount shopping centre: 54 per cent traffic increase.
-South-bound morning peak along Marine Parade: 30 to 40 per cent increase.
-South-bound afternoon peak through Mount shopping centre: 91 per cent increase.