Traffic backed up on SH2 at the Wairoa bridge. Photo / Alex Cairns
An Ōmokoroa man fed up with traffic delays on State Highway 2 resorted to staying in his campervan in Tauranga overnight to ensure he could make a meeting the morning.
The man left home at 11pm the night before and stayed in his self-contained campervan, at a freedom camping ground at Sulphur Point.
He was among a growing number of motorists frustrated with traffic delays on the stretch of highway, which is used by more than 25,000 vehicles a day.
Read the full story here: State Highway 2 traffic: Ōmokoroa man stays in campervan in Tauranga to avoid morning traffic
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A National government will build a four-lane motorway, as they had planned to do before 2017.
This was one of the required major roadworks that Labour put off on becoming the Government and almost six years later the traffic chaos has doubled to a point where, in my view, the road is a death trap.
- David S
Reply to David S: Will it? Or will it propose it, get caught up in red tape, negotiate with various bodies about access, cost it and find it’s doubled in price over the last five years, finally get everything lined up to start and — bang! Another Labour government comes in and cancels it in favour of a bike path.
- Anna S
Tauranga is on my avoid list due to traffic issues it has been having for some time. As someone who drives through Auckland to travel south, that is saying something.
- Kirstie P
Taking the Waikato expressway to Auckland shows the disparity between the two regions starkly. Bay of Plenty and Tauranga-north have been promised highways since I was a child. The roads particularly between Tauranga and Athenree are abysmal and dangerous. Housing intensification has made the problems worse.
Traffic is worse in the Bay than it is in Auckland. It’s no surprise to anyone living in the Bay that the approaches of council and Waka Kotahi have created such an impact. They seem to be the only ones who didn’t get it.
What will it take for them to wake up and figure out a better solution than people having to work from home? It’s beyond belief.
- Peter K
So the farmland was/is being sold, the council is granting permission to build more homes/communities. But it seems to me that no one has put enough thought into how these people will get in and out of the area. Seriously?
Same thing happening in Auckland. More housing developments going in: Karaka, Drury, Ramarama, Pokeno etc. Where do we think the people living in the homes work? Not at the local ice cream shop if paying an $800K mortgage.
I have always admired how Hamilton has achieved better results. I have driven down “empty” roads - but a few years later there is housing there. Make the access first, then build the houses.
- Kiwi T
With the travelling times increasing beyond what is acceptable due to accidents, traffic jams and cones, it won’t be long before we see cars with inbuilt toilet facilities so you can go on the go, as it were.
- James B
I have complete sympathy. We spent three months in a campervan when they did major roadworks on Whangaparaoa Rd.
Traffic management and the, in my view, lack of consideration of road users when work happens is abysmal in New Zealand.
- John B
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