Early design - Accessible Streets for Ōtūmoetai Peninsula

The proposed additional details and features include:

• Keeping the trees outside the Tauranga District Court was important for many during the first round of consultation. (These trees would have been removed with two-way cycleways or shared paths).
• One of the options being considered is to change the parking from angle parking to parallel parking between Harrington and Brown Street, which would reduce the number of available carparks overall in this area. However this would prevent people from reversing over the cycle lane. We will consult separately on this particular aspect as part of the wider parking plan for the city centre, which will include looking at options around provision of parking.
• The Brown Street intersection is proposed to provide signalised priority for buses and allow safe access for cars. Buses are currently experiencing up to 10-minute delays which will be improved with these changes.
  Note: Between Brown and Chapel Street, an option of including a bus lane while accommodating left turning traffic onto Takitimu Drive is being further investigated.
• Bus stops are in-lane to allow buses to enter traffic easily. There is sufficient space for vehicles to pass in the adjacent lane, if deemed safe to do so.
• Upgraded bus stops and shelters.
• Maxwells Road intersection is proposed to become signalised. This will help with bus priority and address safety issues of people and students trying to cross the very busy Chapel Street. This will also improve driver access to and from Pillans Point School. There have been four pedestrian related crashes here with further near misses reported also. This is an area where the community provided feedback to improve safety and access.
• A city-bound bus queue jump is proposed for the Chapel Street/Maxwell Road intersection. Dedicated bus lanes and priority at key intersections will allow buses to move past queued traffic and ensure bus services are frequent, reliable and get people where they need to go.
• For safety reasons, access to Maxwells Road is proposed to be left in and left out only. A centre island will be placed to reinforce the no right turn from Chapel Street into Maxwells Road if heading to the beach and the no right turn out from Maxwells Road (beach side) onto Chapel Street.
• People wishing to access the Bureta shops from the Maxwells Road area can do so safely at the Ngatai Road and Chapel Street intersection.
• We received feedback about the missing footpath link from the Chapel Street/Maxwells Road intersection to the estuary path, which we have included in the scope of the project.

The proposed additional details and features include:

• New traffic lights at the intersection of Ngatai and Bureta Roads to improve access and safety. Community feedback showed people were concerned about safety and access here. There have been 16 injury crashes involving 13 drivers, two cyclists and a pedestrian in this area. We want to make it safer.
• New traffic lights are proposed at the Ōtūmoetai/Ngatai Road roundabout to improve access and safety across Ōtūmoetai Road. As traffic must stop to allow traffic entering from side roads and to allow people who are cycling or walking to cross safely, there could be a delay of up to 90-seconds.
• A city-bound in-lane bus stop is proposed near Short Street and Ngatai Road to give buses priority at this location. Traffic will need to wait for the bus to depart. Many of the other bus stop locations will be indented or are positioned to allow drivers to pass if safe to do so. A new bus stop location and on demand signalised pedestrian crossing is also proposed to improve safety and accessibility for people wishing to cross the road.
• For safety reasons, we are proposing to remove the slip lane at the intersection of Chapel Street and Ngatai Road. Access is maintained around 60 metres further along. We will be working with residents here to talk about the proposed design and how to get in and out of their properties along with how rubbish collections are intended to operate.  
• One of the previously proposed options was to close the slip lane at the Chapel Street and Vale Street intersection. Following feedback and further review, the slip lane at Chapel Street and Vale Street will be maintained with safety improvements to encourage lower speeds and allow people to cross the slip lane easily and safely.
• The footpath on the beach side of Ngatai Road near #121 is intended to be closed, with a crossing provided for people to access the opposite side. We received feedback that the path is too narrow to accommodate two people passing each other in either wheelchairs or mobility scooters. The change encourages pedestrians, wheelchair users and mobility scooters to use the path on the opposite side of the road where enough space is provided while accommodating the two-way cycle path on the other side of the road.
• Undergrounding of power lines may be needed near 121 Ngatai Road and will be confirmed through the detailed design stage of the project.
  Note: We have worked hard to retain parking between the Chapel Street intersection with Ngatai Road and the Bureta shops. There are nine carparks to be removed on the harbour side where the new cycleway and bus stops will be placed. On the opposite side of the road 16 carparks will remain. There will still be plenty of parking on surrounding streets for staff to park. These specific roads are needed to enable more people to travel through using more transport options.

The proposed additional details and features include:

• The one-way system is proposed to extend to Anne Street, accommodating the large number of school buses that use this road. An increase in the width of the shared path outside Ōtūmoetai Intermediate School is also proposed to assist students walking to and from school
• We want to maintain as much parking as possible given the sporting and other large events in the area. The proposed one-way system provides a balanced approach between pedestrian safety, access to facilities such as schools and businesses, and residents’ property access requirements.
• Restricting Windsor Road traffic to one-way southbound from Ngatai Road to Anne Road has safety and operational benefits around the schools. However, this option does require one-way traffic to re-route onto Anne Road and Queen Street, which potentially means more traffic will be using these streets.
• This option provides the highest number of on-street carparking spaces, which caters for demand from nearby schools and recreation centres.
• A 30km/h speed limit for the area was one of the options presented. Based on community feedback, it is now proposed during school times only to cover the schools on Windsor Road.

The proposed additional details and features include:

• An on-demand signalised crossing on a raised safety platform is proposed at 178 Bellevue Road so people can cross Bellevue Road safely.
• Undergrounding of some power lines on the southbound side.
• A two-way cycleway on the west side of Bellevue Road between Windsor Road and Millers Road with a shared path through the Brookfield roundabout area to Lees Park.
• To make it easier and safer for people to cross, on-demand signalised crossings or pedestrian refuge islands on speed tables are proposed along Bellevue Road at various locations. Pedestrian crossings are proposed on most side roads where cycleways are planned to enable people both cycling or walking to cross safely.
• Most of the bus stops will be indented except for some locations where vehicles are able to pass a bus if deemed safe to do so. The existing in-lane bus stop outside 19 Bellevue Road is remaining.
• Bus stops and bus shelters will be upgraded to support and encourage bus travel.

Note: The intersection of Bellevue and Windsor Roads is high-risk and safety improvements have already been planned

The proposed additional details and features include:

• A signalised crossing close to the kindergarten and Bayview Retirement Village to make it easier for people to cross the road and access the cycleway and bus stop.
• An upgrade of the intersection of Birch Avenue/Waihi Road/Eleventh Avenue to enable people to cross the road and make it safer. The removal of the left turn slip lane into Birch Avenue is proposed to change to a dedicated right turn lane.
• An on-demand signalised crossing, linked to the Birch Avenue signals at the Takitimu Drive off-ramp to enable people to cross safely.
• Improvements at the Koromiko roundabout to enable people to cross safely. We have heard feedback from the Koromiko Street businesses and have made changes to accommodate local business needs.
• Restricting the right turn from Eleventh Avenue into St John Street. This means people wishing to access the area could either use Tenth Avenue or Eleventh Avenue to make a right turn into Edgecumbe Road.
• The right turn from Eleventh Avenue into the McDonald’s driveway is proposed to be removed due to safety issues. These vehicles would need to access McDonalds via Christopher Street. People can still turn left in and left out to access McDonalds from Eleventh Avenue.
• Access to the neighbouring shops at 152 Eleventh Avenue Plaza - the right turn from Eleventh Avenue into this driveway is proposed to be removed due to safety issues. People can access these shops by turning left from Eleventh Avenue and exit via Christopher Street. People from Waihi Road could access the shops carparking by turning right into Christopher Street, left into Twelfth Avenue, then left into Cameron Road and then left again from Eleventh Avenue.