The Premium Debate: SH2 drivers cutting ahead blamed for worsening traffic delays

Traffic backed up on SH2 at the Wairoa bridge. Photo / Alex Cairns

Hundreds more drivers are taking local roads to “cut ahead” of the congestion on State Highway 2, north of Tauranga, prompting safety concerns and adding to traffic delays, a local council says.

But a woman who is one of them says she and others are “just doing what any local would do”.

The debate comes as traffic congestion on SH2 between Omokoroa and Tauranga worsens with some people taking two hours to travel the distance between the two.

Read the full story here: Hundreds of drivers using local roads to skip Ōmokoroa to Tauranga congestion - council

Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz or dailypost.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.

That used to happen in Welcome Bay. Drivers would use Burrows St or Turret Road to rat run instead of using 15th Ave. Used to create awful tailbacks as other drivers let them in. So council shut off Turret and put lights at Burrows. It didn’t really fix anything as the problem, like in most of Tauranga, is where two lanes merge into one.

Heather A

A year or so ago I attended a public meeting chaired by Scott Simpson and Simeon Brown, where Scott noted ‘that if Winston Peters hadn’t gone with Labour in 2017 the Tauranga Northern Arterial would have been built by now’. Let’s not forget what the real reason is why SH2 has stopped moving.

Craig F

I’ve been riding my bike to work for the past year and a half to avoid the SH2 traffic. Best decision I’ve ever made. Shame the council is finishing the cycleway in such a roundabout way.

Sam K

Labour’s legacy will be cycleways in every major city that are not used, have slowed traffic flows and stolen off street car parking. All at a monstrous cost to the taxpayer.

Terry M

Ha ha this is pretty funny. Why would an authority whine about this instead of figuring a solution? Temporary traffic lights that control flow in some way? Like entering motorway in Auckland? Many of us use GPS like Apple Maps to help us take the quickest route, which changes daily, and tries to guide around congestion. Perfect, that what we want. Insulting everyone that uses the available smart systems is laughable!!

Rob L

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