This intersection, arguably the busiest in Tauranga, has three lanes in each approach. It was necessarily quite functional, albeit lacking dedicated left-turn lanes. The contractors, a couple of months ago, closed one lane on 15th Ave, and one on the north Cameron Rd direction. They then went away. Who knows when they will return? This is a difficult intersection to avoid and the contractors have made no friends with local motorists.

The situation shows either a high level of incompetence by the contractor, and by extension, the principal, city council, or it has been done deliberately.

Defensive arguments from the council spokesman are inevitable, however when working on busy roads, particularly urban roads, if you open six work sites – you need six teams to carry out the work! Otherwise, don't open the sites. This is particularly important with major intersections. Cameron Rd is a disgrace.

Dan Russell, Welcome Bay.

Tauranga City Council Director of Transport, Brendan Bisley, responds:

The lane reduction on 15th Ave is associated with the roadworks on Cameron Rd. Previously there were two right-turn lanes from 15th Ave onto Cameron Rd, but with that section of Cameron currently reduced to a single lane, we needed to drop one of the lanes for safety reasons (to avoid having two lanes of turning traffic merging into one).

The works on Cameron Rd are progressing. The section of Cameron Rd between 15th and 14th Ave has been slower than expected, due to the underground services being more extensive than shown on the service plans held by the various utility companies. Council utilises those plans to get an indication of what is below the ground for the initial project design, and then undertakes potholing to confirm what is actually there before we start the main excavation. The potholing showed more services below the ground than was indicated by the service plans and the new stormwater pipes therefore needed to be redesigned to fit around the services. While this was done, the lanes on Cameron and 15th were reopened, allowing traffic to use both lanes. The lane restrictions were put back in place once the works got underway again.

The works between 15th and 14th Avenues should be completed in approximately three weeks and once the new manholes currently being constructed in the road are sealed up, access to the closed lane will be reopened.