We just wanted to give you a brief update on the State Highway 2 (SH2) Waihi to Tauranga projects and thank those of you who attended and gave feedback at the public open days.

In July this year we held three successful open days that were held in Katikati, Omokoroa and Te Puna. Open days are an important part of what we do as they help us find out early on what the community’s concerns and needs are. We presented to you five projects that are looking to improve safety, travel time and support both economic development and the needs of our growing region. They are:

• Waihi to Tauranga safety improvements
• Athenree to Katikati safety improvements
• Omokoroa to Te Puna safety improvements
• Omokoroa to Te Puna capacity improvements
• Tauranga Northern Link safety and travel time improvements

With over 800 people attending the three open days we received a huge amount of valuable feedback. The key themes that emerged were: cycleways, intersection improvements, median barriers, passing lanes, speed control and bridge widening.

Since the open days we have been meeting with project stakeholders to look at what the possible solutions could be for SH2. Early next year we will progress these meetings, and using both the public and stakeholder feedback, we will fine tune the solutions and develop a list of options to improve safety and capacity along the corridor.

We will be looking to hold another round of open days in Waihi, Katikati, Omokoroa and Te Puna, seeking community feedback on our recommended options. We will advertise the dates and locations for the open days early next year.

The Tauranga Northern Link project is one of the more advanced projects and things are progressing well. The professional services contract has been let and we now have a team working on the design of the new 6.8km road. Other work underway is the property purchases and resource consents.

Construction of the Tauranga Northern Link is likely to start in 2018.

If you’d like see what the proposed new northern link might look like, watch the animation. It’s worth a look.

Construction of the new two-lane roundabout is well underway and it will replace the Te Puna/Minden Road ‘T’ intersection, significantly improving safety.

The first part of this project focussed on work off the state highway such as relocating services (ie power, phone, water etc), removing the old Te Puna Hall, forming the new local road behind the BP station and starting the earthworks on the Bethlehem side of the intersection.

Next year work will start on the state highway and building the new roundabout. We acknowledge that this work is causing delays and we appreciate your patience.

This project is expected to be completed by July 2017 and the new roundabout will improve safety and deliver more reliable travel times for SH2 motorists and the wider Te Puna community.

The construction site will close for the Christmas break from Thursday, 22 December through to Monday, 9 January 2017.