Bypass rouses fears

MANDY SMITH
A decision to trial a Transit New Zealand road bypass through Waipukurau is likely to divide the rural community of Central Hawke's Bay.
It came down to six votes in favour and four against from the Central Hawke's Bay District Council yesterday to approve the bypass through the town's main street.
The trial, which one councillor called the most controversial issue he had ever dealt with, will last 12 months.
The integrated bypass is designed to remove passing traffic along the main road and relieve traffic congestion at the Post Office corner and Tavistock Hotel corner intersections.
However, Transit has admitted the bypass may cause more accidents in the short term, as motorists familiarise themselves with the new layout.
The plan would see traffic from the south have right of way across the railway line into Railway Esplanade, past the railway station and down Peel Street back to Ruataniwha Street, left onto Herbert Street and across the Tukituki River bridge.
Traffic turning in and out of Ruataniwha Street would no longer have right of way.
CHBDC received 145 responses from the community in agreement with the proposal and 457 against.
Before signing off on the bypass, councillors voiced concern about a number of issues including the likely impact on main street business, Transit's bullying tactics and the consequences of not accepting the road authority's plan.
Councillor Michael Mullins said with traffic volumes expected to increase four percent over the next 10 years, a bypass was probably inevitable.
However, he supported council's initial proposal to Transit: a "simple, safe and low cost" option involving roundabouts at the two intersections.
He said there was strong opposition to Transit's plan in the community and more negotiation was needed to come up with a sensible solution.
"The town is too vulnerable, something like this would set it back severely," Mullins said.
Councillor Maitland Manning agreed, saying it was a 20-year-long issue pushed on council in the past six weeks.
There was an "unwritten fear" that if council failed to adopt Transit's plans, the district's $4million overbridge upgrade would be at risk, he said.
"We should not allow ourself to be bullied.
"We cannot afford to push change through with haste. It's too important for that," Manning said.
But councillor Terry Kingston, who called the bypass the most controversial issue he had voted on in his five years on council, said Transit's tactics did not amount to bullying - state highway users would always be their top priority.
He saw the the bypass as an opportunity to revitalise the community and smooth the flow of traffic through the main street.
"I see it as a chance to rebrand Waipukurau," he said. Councillor Sally Butler said the council could not afford to procrastinate with solutions to the "Russian Roulette" intersections.