Some Western Bay of Plenty residents are optimistic about the traffic on State Highway 2, despite renewed frustration at congestion on the highway.

A section of SH2 between Te Puna and Aongatete is having chipseal works done along the corridor, said NZ Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi.

SunLive has been contacted by people who use the highway voicing their concerns and explaining the impact the works have had on traffic this week.

Josh Hein videoed the traffic congestion on Tuesday, which he said started about 500m south of Pahoia School and ended around Bethlehem.

“This is our route home from work which is going away from Katikati. If we were to travel back at that time in the morning (7am) it would add at least three hours to our trip,” said Hein.

They believed the traffic tailback was around 15km long.

In response, NZTA said contractors are working to minimise the impact to traffic by completing most of the works during the night and implementing temporary speed limits and other traffic management during the day to slow traffic.

“SH2 is an incredibly sensitive piece of road and any reduced speed limits from work or incidents near or on this road sees changes in traffic flow,” said NZTA BOP system manager Sandra King.

On Wednesday, SunLive approached residents and business owners around State Highway 2 to gauge their reactions to the works and received a have mixed emotions.

Whakamarama Automotive staff member and Greerton resident Craig, who didn’t want to have his last name published, said the traffic had been good on Wednesday.

Whakamarama Automotive staff have mixed feeling about the State Highway 2 traffic. Photo / Ayla Yeoman

When asked what the peak hour traffic was like, he said that there wasn’t any.

He believes people have decided to stay home and off the roads due to the traffic they experienced on Monday and Tuesday. “Monday was terrible,” he said.

Craig said it usually takes him 25 minutes to get to work in the morning from Greerton, but on Monday, it took him an hour.

Whakamarama Automotive customer and Ōmokoroa local Eve Grimley said she came in half an hour early to get to her appointment.

“They are making progress,” she said. “Eventually we’ll have a roundabout, so you’ll see the improvement in the traffic.”

Grimley is optimistic and hopeful about the road works and the Ōmokoroa roundabout that she believes will have a positive impact on the traffic flow.

After living in Ōmokoroa for 10 years, she knows the back roads and shortcuts to use when traffic is really bad.

Whakamarama Automotive owner Mathew Donachie is less optimistic about the road works and traffic it’s creating.

Donachie lives on the far side of Katikati, meaning he drives into the traffic.

When asked for his opinion, he said he was “Pissed off, but it has to be done doesn’t it”.

“There’s no other road to get into Tauranga. Unfortunately, it’s something that’s got to be fixed. I don’t know how they could get around it without causing the trouble that they do.

“It’s the only road, unless you want to go around the back of the Kaimai area and over the top of the Kaimai Range.”

It usually takes Donachie 25 minutes to half an hour to get to work in the morning.

“Tuesday morning it took me an hour to get from Pahoia School to here, and that was leaving half an hour earlier.”

“Wednesday was better, and yesterday was a little bit better, but the traffic’s actually flowing today.

“We’ve got six weeks of it yet.”

Donachie also believes this could be because people are deciding to stay home rather than enter the traffic.

“I’m just annoyed at the fact that they should have done something to these roads 10-15 years ago when they were going to build the highway along there.”

Donachie believed the biggest reason for the heavy traffic on SH2 usually is because of the developments in Ōmokoroa along with the lack of development of the roads.

“They’ve done all this massive development in Ōmokoroa, and they’ve done nothing with the roads.

“What did they really expect was going to happen? You put in another 5000 homes in Ōmokoroa, every home’s got an average two cars, and you’ve still got the same old single highway road.”

In a statement to SunLive, NZTA said the traffic volumes are 15,000 vehicles on the corridor per day from Waihi to Te Puna and 20,000 per day from Te Puna to Tauranga.

“These numbers are growing by around 2-3% each year.”

Western Bay of Plenty mayor, James Denyer said he believes the roads should have been updated when the Ōmokoroa developments were being done.

Western Bay of Plenty mayor James Denyer. File / Photo.

He said the issue is the differing priorities that different governments have had.

“It was planned for the upgrade of the State Highway from Ōmokoroa to Tauranga to have been done some years ago, and then the project was cancelled and then reinstated.

“That has been a frustration for council and for residents.

“We are obliged by government to accommodate growth and provide housing.

“We’re struggling to do that, to be honest. We want people to live here, and we need to keep up with the infrastructure.”

Denyer said there have always been plans in place, but they have been delayed by government decisions, and he is hopeful things will start to get moving now that a plan is in place.

“The Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty council are keen to sign up for a regional deal, it’s a new government initiative, and that’s all about getting that coordination between a local government and central government as partners.”

He said a long-term partnership agreement would make things more aligned.