Opinion: Closing of 14th Ave at Turret Rd a Godsend

Fifteenth Ave traffic on Monday evening, after the temporary closure of a popular shortcut. Photo/John Borren

Like many Tauranga commuters, I've had my eye on changes to traffic flows along 15th Ave.

Being the stubborn sort, I've always refused to take the "shortcut" along 14th Ave and Turret Rd, despite seeing every evening that it's obviously much quicker.

What I also see every evening is the delays caused by people politely stopping to let people in from the side streets.

I've heard people debating that the side street shortcutters aren't the ones causing the delays, it's simply the number of cars on the road.

But when waiting in traffic at the top of the hill on 15th Ave, it's obvious the side street traffic is part of the problem.

It's like watching dominoes.

From the hill, you can see in real time exactly what happens when a car stops to let others in. One car stops, the one behind them has to stop, then the next one, and so forth, right back along the whole road. It's like watching dominoes.

Cars are still slowing down after the shortcutter is long gone. Then the next car stops to let someone in, and the next ... It's a good day if I manage to hit 10km/h along that stretch of road in the evening.

Since the temporary closure (early days yet, I know), the traffic has flowed much quicker along 15th Ave. I actually managed to get up to 50km/h on Monday past Burrows St! That's practically unheard of.

The traffic on Fraser St was backed up to the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, but that's not unusual. I've seen it backed up on 11th Ave and Cameron Rd plenty of times in the past.

I'm sure the closure has irked those who used to take the shortcut - waiting with the rest of us in the rest of us in the queue isn't much fun when you're used to much quicker.

But the changes look to me, so far, like they might actually work.