The future of 15th Avenue is the topic of community information sessions that Tauranga City Council will host next month.
People who live, work, go to school and travel through the Avenues are invited to three community information drop-in sessions to learn more about Tauranga City Council’s plans for 15th Avenue.
The first session is Wednesday, 6 June, 4pm until 6pm at Tauranga Special School in Kaka Street.
The council is proposing to stage a series of improvements and road-widening along 15th Avenue that will eventually create space for more people to bus, carpool and bike. A video and concept plans are available at www.tauranga.govt.nz/15thavenue along with an online form for people to give their feedback.
Transportation manager Martin Parkes says the first stage of work will start later this year. “We’ll be adding a new traffic lane between Fraser Street and Grace Road to give the 15th Avenue and Fraser intersection a better chance to clear in the afternoons.”
The bulk of the work is scheduled for 2021, after the NZ Transport Agency’s Baypark to Bayfair Link project is finished. Martin says, “Any major work we do along 15th Avenue or Turret Road needs to be timed carefully so it doesn’t clash with the Bay Link project. We saw how widespread the delays got when people parked their cars along Turret Road to watch the dolphins a few weeks ago. Having two major construction projects underway at the same time along two major transport routes will create much more disruption than people are seeing now.”
Community information ‘drop in’ session details:
- Wednesday, 6 June, 4pm until 6pm: Tauranga Special School, Kaka Street
- Saturday, 16 June, 12 noon until 2pm: Tauranga Central Baptist Church, Corner 13th Avenue and Cameron Road (plenty of parking available around the back)
- Thursday, 21 June, 10am until 12 noon: Blind Foundation, 160 Seventeenth Avenue – parking available.
Council staff will also be stationed at Pak ‘n Save Cameron Road and the Fraser Cove shopping centre during selected lunch hours through June.