Ōmokoroa, Te Puke and Katikati town centre speeds to be reduced to 40km/h

Katikati’s main road is a state highway and NZTA intends to introduce a 40km/h speed limit.

Speed limits around Western Bay of Plenty schools will be lowered to 30km/h during peak times, following the adoption of Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s speed management plan.

Outside of school drop-off and pick-up times, the speed limit around rural schools in the district will drop to 80km/h, while around urban schools it will remain at 50km/h — unless the speed limit is already lower, in which case it will remain unchanged.

Further changes under the plan include lowering the speed limit in Ōmokoroa and Te Puke town centres to 40km/h, in line with Waihī Beach town centre, which became 40km/h in 2021 through a previous bylaw process.

Katikati’s main road is a state highway, and a 40km/h limit is intended by the NZ Transport Authority (NZTA) Waka Kotahi, and supported by the district council.

Speed limits will also be lowered in areas where the council received feedback from the community to do so, including Fairview Estate (all roads within the estate 30km/h), Matakana Island (all roads 60km/h unless lower), Te Puna from State Highway 2 to Tauranga Harbour (all roads 60km/h unless lower), Pahoia Rd from the railway to the existing 50km/h area (60km/h), and Wilson Rd North in Maketū (extension of the 50km/h and 70km/h zones).

It is likely the new speed limits will come into effect within the next two years. The timing and cost of implementing the changes will be shared between the council and NZTA, subject to resource and funding availability.

All other rural roads that have a speed limit of 100km/h will retain this limit. No speed limits will increase.

Council is also working with marae case by case to provide safer connections for their communities.

“We want people to be safe on all our roads, but special care needs to be taken in areas where there are more pedestrians, like schools, marae and town centres. We hope the new speed limits will raise driver awareness and reduce the risk in these locations,” says Mayor James Denyer.

“No one knows local roads more than the people who drive them, which is why there was a strong focus on local knowledge when setting the new speed limits. During the consultation process, we received close to 200 submissions, which helped us shape this plan.’’

The council’s draft speed management plan went out for consultation in October. At that time, a 50km/h speed limit was proposed for all urban roads and an 80km/h limit for rural roads, with the exceptions of schools, marae, town centres and priority areas identified by council.

Of the 197 submissions received, reducing speed limits around schools during peak times had the most support, and not much support for the blanket 80km/h limit for rural roads.

“The legislation that the draft plan was prepared under has changed under the new Government, and a speed management plan is no longer mandatory,” explains Mayor James.

“However, we are still going to use the plan and people’s feedback to guide speed limit changes, as we think it’s a good way to have a kōrero with the community on road safety and speed limits.”

A national speed limit register is now the legal tool used to set speed limits, and the council’s speed management plan, which will be reviewed every three years, will guide what’s included in the register.

— Western Bay of Plenty District Council