Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Changes coming for Tauranga congestion hot spot at Turret Rd

Kiri Gillespie
By Kiri Gillespie
Assistant News Director and Multimedia Journalist·Bay of Plenty Times·
12 Oct, 2017 06:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Avenues residents association spokesman Phil Green says the closure of 14th Ave at Turret Rd will do little to deter rat runners from residential streets. Photo/Andrew Warner

Avenues residents association spokesman Phil Green says the closure of 14th Ave at Turret Rd will do little to deter rat runners from residential streets. Photo/Andrew Warner

The temporary closure of a popular shortcut used by "rat-runners" to avoid traffic jams on 15th Ave has been labelled a "half-baked" idea.

Motorists have been entering Turret Rd via 14th Ave to avoid congestion on 15th Ave.

It has led to complaints from frustrated motorists that cars using the route were disrupting the flow of traffic when they tried to enter Turret Rd.

Read more: Cure for Tauranga traffic pinch point two years away
Survey throws different light on Tauranga traffic congestion

In response to those complaints, the Tauranga City Council has announced the 14th Ave exit onto Turret Rd will be closed for six weeks from Monday as part of a trial.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Transportation manager Martin Parkes acknowledged many motorists would still use Burrows St or Grace Rd but said the aim of the trial was to primarily survey the impact rather than immediately alleviating congestion.

"The information we gather will ultimately go into the planning and decision making around what we do to improve the 15th Ave corridor."

Mr Parkes said it was likely the council would permanently close 14th Ave at Turret Rd but planned for community consultation in February with information from the trial before making a decision.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The council will monitor the impact via cameras at key intersections.

Avenues Residents Association spokesman Phil Green said the once tranquil neighbourhood had become a race track at peak times.

However, the closure would make little difference, he said, because motorists would still travel through the 14th Ave and other nearby streets to access 15th Ave from Burrows St, he said.

"I don't think they've thought it through far enough," he said.

He wanted to see pinch-points constructed on 14th Ave and surrounding streets to better deter rat-runners, but doubted anything would change until 15th Ave and Turret Rd were widened.

"It's got to be four-laned from the expressway highway all the way down and through to the Welcome Bay intersection."

Hori Leaming, who campaigned on the issue in recent local body elections, described the closure as a "half-baked idea".

Mr Leaming, who lives in Welcome Bay, said the council needed to stop researching the problem and " get on and do the job".

Unless a traffic light intersection was introduced at Burrows St, the closure of 14th Ave would only make matters worse, he said.

"All they are doing is shifting the mayhem from Turret Rd to Burrows St."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Leaming had little faith in any progress on the issue.

"I'd like to be proven wrong but this road has been an absolute necessity for 15 years and they've done nothing."

TCC Transport Committee chairman Rick Curach said he believed the closure would help stop the break in flow on 15th Ave and he was interested in seeing the results of the trial.

The facts:
The 14th Ave/Turret Rd exit lane will be closed temporarily from Monday, October 16. This will be a six-week trial while the Tauranga City Council collects data to help assess options for any permanent changes.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

BoP dairy targeted by armed robbers

16 Jun 01:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Quite fun': Hamish's quail egg business takes flight

16 Jun 12:09 AM
Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

Comvita forecasts another annual loss

15 Jun 11:39 PM

The woman behind NZ’s first PAK’nSAVE

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

BoP dairy targeted by armed robbers

BoP dairy targeted by armed robbers

16 Jun 01:00 AM

Police recovered a stolen silver Mazda used in the robbery.

'Quite fun': Hamish's quail egg business takes flight

'Quite fun': Hamish's quail egg business takes flight

16 Jun 12:09 AM
Premium
Comvita forecasts another annual loss

Comvita forecasts another annual loss

15 Jun 11:39 PM
Police find gun, drugs in stolen van

Police find gun, drugs in stolen van

15 Jun 09:33 PM
How one volunteer makes people feel seen
sponsored

How one volunteer makes people feel seen

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP