The Links Ave bus lane. Photo / NZME
One of Mount Maunganui's most popular thoroughfares will be closed to rat-run traffic as part of a trial to make the area safer.
But Links Ave residents and parents say the move has ignored their concerns and will do nothing to address the real danger to their schoolchildren - buses.
The Bay of Plenty Times Weekend can reveal Tauranga City Council is pushing ahead with plans to create a cul-de-sac near the centre of Links Ave in a bid to reduce traffic created by rat-runners. However, buses will still be allowed access.
The move is a four- to five-week trial expected to start within the next two weeks. A temporary cul-de-sac will be placed near the western entrance to Ascot Ave.
An independent safety review, commissioned by the council, confirmed there was "tangible risk" to pedestrians and cyclists as students using the shared path often overflowed onto the road, which had very little buffer space between the path edge and traffic lane. Links Ave had an "unacceptable margin for error", the Mackie Research and Colin Brodie review stated.
"There have been reports of cyclists having near-misses with buses and on our site visits we witnessed behaviour that could be very risky if a bus or other vehicle happened to be passing," the review stated.
The review recommended the council consider reverting Links Ave to two-lane traffic despite acknowledging this would disadvantage general or bus traffic, but "safe active school travel should be prioritised".
The review also stated the temporary cul-de-sac trial had "merit".
For the past three years, parent and resident Michael Dance headed the community's call to the council for the bus lane to be removed.
Dance said the introduction of the cul-de-sac trial instead made them feel angry and overlooked.
"If it was nimbyism talking about the inconvenience of travelling around the block that's one thing but no, this is borne out of a real risk of kids getting killed," he said.
"We have a real concern from what we see every day. And we've got professionals saying 'this is a serious danger', 'this is the solution' - get rid of the bus lane. It's such an easy issue to fix.
"It's a win-win all around but they choose to ignore it.
"That's the real thing we don't understand."
The community met to discuss the cul-de-sac trial on Thursday, which Dance said came "out of the blue".
"That's what the community is really upset about. I think there's a lot of anger in the community that this thing is being imposed by stealth."
The community met with council staff last year when several potential solutions were presented, including the cul-de-sac trial, but in his view this was not given much weight at the time, Dance said.
He said the community was also nervous the commissioners were expected to end their duties within a year.
"We won't make change with these guys. We couldn't make change with the councillors before them. Where does that leave us?
"It leaves me totally disheartened with the decision-making process in council. This is such a small issue and so easily fixed. Yet after three years of trying we are still being ignored, money is being wasted on consulting, and lives remain at risk."
Director of transport Brendan Bisley justified the trial, saying reducing traffic on Links Ave was "significantly the best option to improve safety".
"The traffic volume that uses the road has almost tripled in the last two years due to people rat-running through the street to avoid congestion on the B2B [Baypark to Bayfair, also known as Bay Link] project. This increase in traffic volume has decreased the safety of the school children that use the street."
Bisley said traffic volumes had grown from about 2000 vehicles per day before the B2B project began to 5500 vehicles per day, which "significantly impacted bus reliability", prompting the installation of the bus lane. There were about 6500 people who caught the bus from Links Ave each month, with a similar number getting off, he said.
Removing the bus lane would "not resolve the safety issues in the street". Rather, it would replace "one set of risks with another set of risks, which is why council is not supporting this option", he said.
"The buses need to remain on Links Ave as they are an important transport option for students going to school in the area and with only two traffic lanes they could be delayed significantly as they were before the bus lane was installed."
Bisley said the report only considered safety and not necessarily the wider impacts such as congestion on the network. The cost of the report would not be disclosed as it was commercially sensitive.
While the cul-de-sac was in place, the council would work on permanent repairs of the road surface "which is failing in places due to the high traffic volumes", Bisley said.
The council has not yet been able to complete any of these repairs, only carrying out temporary fixes, because of the traffic and limited road width, he said.
Buses will still be able to travel through the cul-de-sac during the trial and there were plans to install an enforcement camera to capture other vehicles using the accessway illegally.
Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said, in response to concerns raised, that the commission and council staff were "acutely aware" of Links Ave's safety issues and were determined to ensure it was safer. They were looking for alternatives as the route was an existing public transport corridor.
"We share the frustration that it's taken so long to liaise with the community, but the cul-de-sac trial is due to start soon so that we can monitor the effects on Links Ave, and on the wider area," she said.
"We will continue to work to find a solution for this very complex part of the network that mixes school children, residents, through traffic, school and passenger buses."
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency regional manager of system design, Jess Andrew, said Tauranga's transport system was under pressure "with a steadily increasing population and lack of feasible transport choices".
While the agency did not expect "substantial change" to traffic travelling through the B2B, she warned a traffic switch from November 7 - tied in with the cul-de-sac - could delay commuters.
The agency would continue to work with local authorities on initiatives that focus on improving safety, access, travel time reliability and provide more options on how people travel, Andrew said.
The impact of the cul-de-sac, any delays and congestion on the surrounding network and feedback were expected to be assessed before any final changes were eventually recommended.
People aged 60-plus accounted for 55% of all house fire deaths over the past 5 years.