Traffic backed up on Burrows St has become a common sight each afternoon. Photo / Alex Cairns
Businesses at a “chaotic” and “dangerous” traffic chokepoint used by rat-runners say it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt as drivers use the wrong side of the road, mount footpaths and speed down alleys.
It comes as residents prepare to meet with the council about the traffic, which a resident advocate says leaves locals virtually trapped in their driveways and makes some drivers so frustrated they resort to doing “silly things”.
The problems on Tauranga’s Burrows St have also come to police attention: in April, police using city council cameras fined 120 people in 42 hours for driving offences on Burrows St, between 15th and 13th Aves.
Tony Hammond of Tony Hammond Motors on Burrows St said traffic was “bumper to bumper” daily and the situation had become “chaotic”.
Some drivers heading to 15th Ave were overtaking more than 10 cars at a time and “because they are racing to get into that middle lane they are going quite fast”, he said.
“They virtually drive down the opposite side of the road and come across a car coming the other way. That’s when the dramas happen.”
Other drivers were mounting footpaths to skip ahead and access a tradesman’s lane linking Burrows St to 15th Ave, Hammond said.
“So they will race down there. It’s 5km/h but they will race down there at 30km/h.
“By the way people are driving, people have to be extra careful because there are people coming from all directions.”
Hammond said it was obvious those drivers were trying to “beat the traffic” on main routes such as 15th Ave.
“They don’t want to wait in the queue like everyone else.”
Hammond said Burrows St was not a long road but people were using it to escape congestion.
“When they get down here, they realise it’s just as gridlocked as everywhere else, they tend to take the measures to pass all of those cars.
“There have been many near-misses,” he said.
“It’s only a matter of time before someone will have a head-on, which we wouldn’t want to see.”
Sammy Waru, officer manager at Good Neighbour on Burrows St, echoed Hammond’s concern that it would be “only a matter of time before someone gets hurt”.
“I’ve never seen so many people drive on the wrong side of the road and think that it’s okay.”
Waru said the congestion and driving behaviour on Burrows St had worsened, particularly in the past four to five months. She suspected this was due to copycats seeing others use the shortcuts.
“There have been times when we have nearly been taken out by a car. You don’t always look left, you don’t necessarily think there’s going to be a car coming from that direction.”
Waru said she’d since learned to “triple-check” when crossing the road or leaving.
“Even if you look left, they might not necessarily be there but they are still coming, some of them do go quite fast.”
Waru said it seemed to her some drivers did not realise there were people like her crossing the road or exiting businesses.
“It does get quite dangerous, particularly now it’s dark at 5 o’clock. People are cutting the corner, coming down the wrong side of the road. There’s been a few close calls.”
A staff member at another Burrows St business, who spoke on the condition he was not identified, said driver behaviour had become “hair-raising”.
The man said he avoided using the road in the afternoons where possible because it was so difficult to get in and out safely.
Another Burrows St worker said there was “definitely a problem” and it was “dangerous”.
Grace Rd and Neighbourhood Residents Association spokesman Phil Green said it was meeting with Tauranga City Council commissioners on Monday.
After lobbying by the group, traffic lights were installed at Burrows St and 15th Ave in 2020 in an attempt to stop commuters using it as a shortcut.
Green said the traffic lights “helped a heck of a lot”.
“But now, we are still getting build-up on 14th and 13th Aves ... it’s probably as dangerous as it used to be before the lights, with traffic build-up.”
Green said some residents wound up virtually trapped, unable to get out of their driveways or where they needed to go.
Green said he had been among those “frustrated” drivers using the opposite side of the road to access the right-hand turning bay at the Burrows St and 15th Ave intersection.
He said he did not do it “at speed” but appreciated there were concerns about the drivers who did.
“People have been doing silly things just to get ahead of two cars,” he said.
“I’ve seen so many near-misses with people being very mindful of letting people across but they don’t see the traffic coming the other way.”
Green said he believed the situation was compounded by Cameron Rd roadworks prompting people to use alternative routes.
Green said he believed that ultimately, a new bridge at Turret Rd would be needed.
A report presented to Tauranga City Council this week referenced the police fining blitz in April.
It stated that “lately, dangerous driving behaviour occurring on Burrows St during peak afternoon traffic included drivers entering Burrows St on the wrong side of the road, or driving vehicles along the footpath to get ahead of queued traffic”.
Council director of transport Brendan Bisley said the council was investigating significant changes to 15th Ave and Turret Rd “to ease the traffic pressures”. Community consultation on this was expected later this year.
The council was continuing to monitor the congestion, caused by traffic volumes exceeding the limited capacity of Turret Rd.
“This was the case before the Cameron Rd project and is still the case, meaning that the same volume of traffic is getting out of town across the Turret Rd bridge with the Cameron Rd project, as was before it commenced.”
Bisley said the green traffic light phase for Burrows St traffic was short to make travelling via 15th Ave more attractive.
“In relation to Burrows, some traffic is trying to rat-run the network to avoid delays on 15th Avenue.
“In reality, they are probably saving minimal time as the green phase from Burrows is short so only a few cars are able to turn on each phase.”
Drivers were better to remain on the main network, which was designed to move higher volumes of traffic, he said.
A police spokesperson said motorists were observed “avoiding congestion” by using Burrows St as a bypass.
“This behaviour can then cause further congestion itself. Police have mounted several operations at this pressure point resulting in numerous infringement notices being issued.”
The spokesperson said a CCTV camera was installed at this intersection “and the vehicles captured travelling on the incorrect side of the traffic island are being dealt with appropriately”.
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.