Some of the traffic that built up in Rotorua's eastern suburbs on Monday morning.
After a morning of “gridlock” and traffic chaos in Rotorua, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has U-turned on a major highway closure – for now.
The decision followed a stinging rebuke from Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell and a major backlash from city businesses and residents.
All four lanes of State Highway 30A between Te Ngae Rd and Fenton St were closed for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) resurfacing works yesterday, with the work scheduled to continue until December 12.
Motorists were forced to use detours and reported huge delays of up to two hours for usually quick journeys in and out of the city during much of Monday morning and early afternoon.
It was described as a “state of gridlock” on social media, with reports of students running late for school and exams, employees late for work and businesses hit in the pocket.
Tapsell said she sent an “urgent request” for NZTA to reconsider the closure.
“The disruption has been much more significant than expected,” the mayor said.
“Many people are feeling distressed at the wide-ranging impact this is having on our community.”
Just after 3.30pm, NZTA confirmed to Local Democracy Reporting it had removed the detour heading out of the city to “allow peak afternoon traffic to use SH30A”.
Lanes coming into town from the airport direction still needed to use the detour until 6am tomorrow morning, when all lanes will be reopened.
NZTA said it would consider how it could minimise delays and communicate these new plans “as soon as possible”.
“However, there is no way that this significant amount of work can be completed at this location without causing some disruption to people’s journeys.”
The closure was the quickest and safest way to complete the job, the agency said. Two crews and special machinery had been brought in at additional cost, and work was timed for warmer weather and longer days.
Tapsell said she has asked NZTA for alternatives and “more transparency” over its decision to close the entire section of road.
“It may be easier for them but it’s coming at great cost to the local community,” she said.
Tapsell also expressed concern over the “frustratingly inefficient” work.
“We only saw cones out and not a lot of action,” she said.
Rotorua Lakes Council group manager of infrastructure and assets Stavros Michael said NZTA did not require council approval for state highway works.
“We are not involved in the decision-making,” he said.
Councillor Gregg Brown called it an “absolute cluster”.
“It’s ridiculous and how they expected Rotorua to put up with it for three or four weeks is beyond me,” Brown said.
“The Government bangs on about the lack of productivity across the country and here we are stuck in traffic for an hour-and-a-half trying to get into town.”
He also worried about the impact on emergency services with traffic at a standstill.
Hato Hone St John said it had been warned of the closure and knew of no impacts on ambulance services today.
Rotorua businessman and developer Ray Cook said it felt to him like NZTA was “holding Rotorua to ransom” with the road closure.
After the “horrendous” first day, he said he asked the council chief executive Andrew Moraes to urgently advocate to NZTA for a staged delivery on current and future projects.
“The current model is imposing an avoidable and unacceptable burden on Rotorua,” Cook said.
He said the closure caused disruption that was “economically and operationally unsustainable”, with several businesses making losses after missed deliveries.
“Any cost efficiencies NZTA gained by pushing this through as a single-stage closure are being outweighed daily by lost productivity, disrupted essential services and compromised emergency access.”
Cook proposed a two-stage method, with one-lane access maintained, as a preferred alternative.
Rotorua Girls’ High School principal Sarah Davis said three students nearly missed their Level 1 te reo Māori NCEA exam.
Six staff members from Eastside were also about two hours late.
“We had several phone calls from very stressed whānau trying to get their girls to school and exams on time,” Davis said.
Lynmore Primary School principal Hinei Taute said she came out from her office to an “exceptionally long line” of late students this morning.
Taute said these children would be marked as present and she hoped other schools would follow suit.
NZTA said the work was originally supposed to start on Monday last week but was delayed by weather. It was still expected to finish December 12.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.