Plan to put more urgency into solving Tauranga traffic woes

Tauranga's transport committee chairman Councillor Rick Curach wants faster progress to fix the city's increasingly congested roads. Photo/Andrew Warner

A new stand-alone transport centre costing up to $1 million a year has been proposed to sort out escalating traffic problems in Tauranga and the wider Western Bay.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council transport chairman Stuart Crosby said the plan to create a centre of excellence was brought about by pressure on roading authorities to work faster and smarter.

''It is important to keep a clear and strong focus on things roading ... that is what the community is demanding.''

Although transport teams in each council already worked collaboratively, they were not totally aligned and it could be done better, he said.

Crosby said it would involve the appointment of a dedicated coordinator to push things harder and faster - in much the same way as the Access group of the 1990s and early 2000s employed John Hannah to keep major roading projects moving.

Tauranga City Council transport chairman Rick Curach said Access had shown how having a single point of contact and integrated thinking could work well.

''It has to be the right person - an independent, critical thinker.''

Curach said his preference had been to go to a full CCO (council-controlled organisation) but this had not been supported at last Wednesday's SmartGrowth meeting.

If a centre of excellence did not speed things up, they could look at an Auckland-style CCO. ''It could make brave decisions that politicians were reluctant to make.''

The proposed centre of excellence would go to SmartGrowth's member councils and the New Zealand Transport Agency for decisions. It was proposed to be funded from existing budgets.

Crosby said the centre would make sure the agency and councils were all working from the same page so that everyone understood who was doing what and when.

The proposal grew out of the 2016 Bay Futures report and had been given renewed impetus by frustration among council politicians desperate to see more happen to ease mounting traffic congestion.

A recent meeting of Tauranga City Council's transport committee saw frustration boil over, with Western Bay councillor Mike Williams saying: ''Now is the time people want to see action but action is what is lacking.''

Tauranga councillor Larry Baldock said there was a disconnect. The Government talked about compliance and integration while the politicians representing the community asked: ''When will something be done?'

Crosby told the committee that the problem was with the way decisions were being made.

''We are paralysing ourselves with over-analysis.''

Under the plan set out in SmartGrowth's agenda, set-up costs would be $400,000 to $700,000 and operational costs $500,000 to $900,000 a year. Additional support would be provided by each organisation's transport staff.

Crosby told the Bay of Plenty Times that stronger collaboration was needed between roading authorities to make sure projects were delivered faster and more efficiently.

Advantages of a Transport Centre of Excellence
- Information sharing
- Standardised approach to data and analysis.
- Transport planning mandated by memorandum of understanding.
- Joint procurement
Source: SmartGrowth