A road trial closing one end of a popular Mount Maunganui through road has racked up $1.2 million in fines in just two weeks.
More than 16,000 drivers have illegally used the bus lane on Links Ave in the month since the trial began. Photo: John Borren / Sun Media
Tauranga City Council is trialling a cul-de-sac on Links Avenue that closed the eastern end of the street to through traffic, except busses and authorised vehicles.
The cul-de-sac is formed by two bus lanes, and anyone that drives through them will receive a $150 fine.
In the first two weeks of the trial, council sent out 8500 warning letters, and have now issued 8000 fines totalling $1.2 million.
Links Ave is a travel corridor for three schools, Mount Maunganui College, Omanu School and Mount Maunganui intermediate.
The schools have a combined roll of around 2500 students.
The street runs parallel to Maunganui Road and Oceanbeach Road, and was used by drivers in peak times to avoid traffic queues on the other roads.
The increased vehicle volume raised safety concerns for the children using the road, which prompted council to implement two cul-de-sac trials.
The first ran for six weeks, late last year, with the cul-de-sac in the middle of Links Ave. Data showed the trial successfully reduced traffic but the placement of the cul-de-sac was unpopular.
The current trial will last at least four months and has attracted just as much vitriol from the community.
The huge number of infringements prompted Matt Nicholson to start a petition calling for council to refund all fines incurred during the trial.
Matt Nicholson started a petition after learning how many people had been fined for using Links Ave. Photo: Supplied / LDR
As of 4 May the petition had 3758 signatures.
Nicholson was fined when travelling east towards Concord Avenue.
He said the new roundabout at Solway Place, just before the bus lanes, is confusing and the signage that the road is closed isn't clear.
"To say it's confusing would be an understatement," Nicholson said.
"Over 16,000 people not seeing a sign clearly, indicates that there's not enough of that signage."
Council transport director Brendan Bisley said drivers will pass between three to five signs before they get to the bus lanes depending on the direction of traffic.
"When they get to the bus lane itself, there are large areas of road surfacing painted green with the words BUS LANE written," he said.
Nicholson said council should just give out warnings rather than fines, and he hoped they would "do the right thing" and refund people for the fines issued.
"Making revenue off a trial doesn't really seem like the best thing to do for the residents in your area or anyone that visits," he said.
"It's not really conducive to making your trial stick or be bought into by the public."
The new roundabout at Solway Place is confusing drivers. Photo: John Borren/Sun Media / LDR
Jacqui, who did not want her last name published, lived on Links Avenue near the cul-de-sac, and she and two of her children had been fined.
She said finding $150 out of her budget was not easy, and the further travel caused by the closure was costing an extra $20 a week in petrol.
Jacqui's family were reluctant to visit her now because of the extra travel. They live in Pāpāmoa and have to double back to leave the street.
"They avoid coming to my house now, that's really sad," she said through tears.
"It's very inconvenient to say the least. It's inconvenient not just for the Links Ave residents, but for the whole community."
Her commute to work in Brookfield at midday also takes at least 15 minutes longer. Other trips that would normally take 10 minutes are taking up to 35 minutes, she said.
Pāpāmoa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Philip Brown said people could not see the point of having an "important" road permanently closed when the safety concerns are around a two hour period on weekday mornings.
"It just seems ridiculous that you have to close it for 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Brown said.
"It just does not make sense and it shows gross mismanagement of our transport assets.
"It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."
Pāpāmoa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Philip Brown. Photo: John Borren/Sun Media / LDR
Nicholson agreed: "To shut an entire road, both directions as a bus lane seems way over the top, which obviously is causing congestion issues with all of the surrounding streets".
Brown suggested closing Links Avenue to through traffic during the morning weekday peak to help with the safety concerns.
He had received feedback from Oceanbeach Road residents that they were unhappy with their road being blocked up by traffic for longer periods.
During the initial trial Oceanbeach Road saw an increase of 3000 vehicles per day to a weekday average of 17,400, according to council data.
Bisley said: "If the trial was to remain in longer term, changes would be made to Oceanbeach Road to look at improving traffic flows at key points".
The level of continued use of the cul-de-sac - in spite of the bus lane, showed just how many people use Links Avenue as a 'rat run' through Arataki, he said.
"The main purpose of the trial is to look at ways of getting the current levels of traffic down to a safer, more reasonable level for a residential street."
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