It's the new cycleway under construction to wind beneath Wairoa Bridge on State Highway 2. Western Bay of Plenty motorists are furious it's being put in place – and some cyclists admit they won't even use it.

Works began this month to complete the last 800m of the Ōmokoroa to Tauranga cycleway, creating a designated space for cycling along SH2 between the Wairoa Bridge and Bethlehem.

Off-road construction works are developing the underpass from the Wairoa River clip-on bridge that will lead to an on-road, two-way cycleway which crosses at Taniwha Place and continues along SH2 to a signalised crossing connecting to Carmichael Rd.

Frustrations and use

Motorist Cheryl Southorn, who travels into Tauranga City from Whakamārama, is frustrated by the project causing traffic delays and is calling the cycleway 'stupid”.

'We're going to get held up again. Traffic is going to bank up, and that's providing people do use it.

'How many people are going to actually use it [the cycleway]?” asks Cheryl.

'You ask anybody on that road – you see very few cyclists at all and to put that loop, and then put them under the bridge, and up the other side is just absolutely ridiculous.”

Cyclist Shane Plummer says the cycleway design is not 100 per cent practical. Photo: John Borren

Tauranga City Council director of transport Brendan Bisley says council has 'no reservations about the impact of the cycleway design on traffic flow for motorists”.

'The most important factor in council decision-making is safety for all road users. The signalised pedestrian crossing (which cyclists will use) was always intended to be put in place to allow for increased pedestrian flow at the northern end of Bethlehem and this crossing will have no additional impact on traffic flow than the other two signalised crossings on this stretch of State Highway.”

Cyclist and Bike Tauranga founder Shane Plummer says the cycleway will provide the only safe way to get to the other side of the Wairoa Bridge.

However he admits that fast-commuting cyclists will still go over the Wairoa Bridge and avoid the cycleway's underpass to save time.

'If I was mountain biking , I'd hit the pedestrian crossing [off Carmichael Rd] and then go over the bridge before the cars will catch me…so a lot of people will just go over the bridge who are the fast, more confident riders and a lot of the retirees ripping around on 30km/h E-Bikes.”

Safety concerns

Shane says the cycleway design 'is what it is”.

'There's lot of challenges around it and it's not 100 per cent practical.

'Some of the plans have got huge safety risks that are not being addressed but that's more of the technical side.”

For the section of the cycleway that will go beneath the Wairoa Bridge, Shane says: 'They're going to have problems with the sharp hairpins going underneath the bridge at 90 degrees”.

'From the E-Bikes perspective ripping down there, they're going to have to be very, very careful because collisions can and will most likely happen doing a hairpin U-turn.”

The Sun asked Tauranga City Council if it thinks this project is the safest design for cyclists.

'Yes, this is the safest design considering the limitations of the available space and the fact that, at peak times, there are over 2000 vehicles per hour using this stretch of road,” says Brendan.

'Going up State Highway 2 on the northern side of the road has more hazards for cyclists and vehicles due to width constraints to accommodate a cycleway and visibility issues than the Taniwha Rd side.”

Speed change

Completion of the roadworks will also see the speed limit in this area reduced by 30km/hr.

'The speed reduction from 80km/hr to 50km/hr heading into the city will now occur on the bridge instead of 500 metres up the hill towards Bethlehem – signalling that this is no longer a stretch of ‘country road' but a busy urban environment,” says Brendan.

Cheryl has no objection to this 'because I actually feel sorry for the people in Taniwha Place trying to get in and out of there in peak hour traffic”.

Yet she feels there's a lack of democracy surrounding this project.

'You feel as though there's all this push for cyclists and you know...you look at Cameron Rd, it's the same thing there, and it's almost like its bureaucratic. They are trying to force you to either use public transport or ride a bike.”

Brendan says the cycleway will enable more people to safely cycle from the city to Omokoroa and beyond.

'This will particularly provide assurance to commuters and school children, who will now be able to choose to use their bikes to go back and forth and reduce the number of vehicles on the state highway.”

Brendan says another benefit of this solution is it provides a direct and safe connection 'to Waimarino Water and Adventure Park which is often used by school students to attend after school activities”.