High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane: Welcome Bay Road
Council’s City Future Committee has approved an all-day HOV lane on Welcome Bay Road between Meadowviews Drive and the traffic signals near the Maungatapu underpass (westbound, towards the city). The lane will be available for motorcycles and vehicles with two or more passengers, including buses and emergency vehicles.
By encouraging carpooling and reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicles, HOV lanes can help ease congestion, while dedicated lanes provide faster, more reliable travel times. The use of these lanes will be enforced by CCTV monitoring.
Based on community concerns about the removal of the centre median for vehicle turning movements, and safety considerations, this will now be retained in the revised design. This means vehicles can wait to turn without blocking vehicles in the live traffic lane and can turn right out of intersections more easily by waiting in the flush median. It also provides a gap between vehicles approaching from the opposite direction.
Keeping the centre median means the on-road cycle lanes will need to be removed to accommodate the new HOV lane. A new shared path will be built for walking and cycling in this section. The change will also result in the removal of 10 carparking spaces on the north side of Welcome Bay Road, opposite and east of Meadowviews Drive.
Traffic signals: intersection of Welcome Bay and Kaitemako Roads
We are also proposing to add traffic signals at the Welcome Bay Road and Kaitemako Road intersection to help vehicles enter Welcome Bay Road and make it safer for people crossing the road. These would replace the existing pedestrian refuge crossings either side of the intersection.
Given there was also mixed support from the community about the need for the traffic signals we would like further feedback on whether we should add them now, or in future when the demand is higher.
Benefits of traffic signals:
- Safer pedestrian crossings over Kaitemako Road and Welcome Bay Road
- Improved walking and cycling links
- Better management of traffic entering and leaving Kaitemako Road
- Improved safety by reducing conflicts between turning vehicles at the intersection
- Better support for future growth and increasing traffic volumes
- Delivers the long-term intersection solution now, reducing the need for further major upgrades later.
If not done now, traffic signals will potentially still be needed in the future (along with the construction work and temporary disruption). Adding signals later would cost more due to inflation and further traffic management costs.
Signalised pedestrian crossing between Waikare Place and Awanui Place – near 62 Welcome Bay Road
Regardless of whether we plan to go ahead with the traffic signals we are proposing to add a signalised pedestrian crossing on Welcome Bay Road between Waikare Place and Awanui Place.
The purpose of the crossing is to improve safety and accessibility for people travelling to and from public transport services and others crossing the road in this location.
The need for a crossing has been identified based on several factors:
- In October 2024, a school student was struck while crossing Welcome Bay Road to access a bus stop in this area
- Pedestrian surveys undertaken in October 2024 recorded approximately 45 road crossings during the morning and afternoon peak periods, with a significant proportion involving school-age children and other vulnerable users
- There is currently no formal crossing facility in this location despite Welcome Bay Road carrying approximately 22,000 vehicles per day
- Bay of Plenty Regional Council bus data indicates approximately 81 public bus services, and 23 school bus services stop daily at the bus stops located near 47 and 68 Welcome Bay Road
- The proposed crossing location was identified because it provides a more direct connection between bus stops on both sides of the road and represents the natural route people tend to take because it is shorter, more direct, faster, and more convenient than other crossing points.
New pedestrian refuge and shared path – near 125 Welcome Bay Road
The existing pedestrian refuge crossings on Welcome Bay Road either side of Kaitemako Road will be removed, however a new pedestrian refuge will be added near 125 Welcome Bay Road, connecting people to the bus stop and a new shared path on the westbound side of the road.
Previous engagement and community feedback
In November 2025, we asked the community for feedback on the proposed HOV lane and traffic signals.
Of the 474 survey responses received:
- 241 people provided feedback on the HOV lane proposal
- Among frequent Welcome Bay Road users, support for the HOV lane was evenly split, with 84 of 166 respondents (51%) in support and 82 (49%) opposed.
For the proposed traffic signals:
- 166 people provided feedback.
- Among frequent Welcome Bay Road users, 80 of 143 respondents (56%) supported the signals and 63 (44%) did not.
More information about the feedback received is available in the engagement report.
Council’s assessment indicates that the proposed HOV lane, shared path upgrades, traffic signals and crossing upgrades for Welcome Bay Road will support safer turning movements, improved pedestrian connectivity, and more efficient use of the existing road corridor.
Feedback received from current community engagement will be considered alongside technical assessments, safety outcomes, and transport network requirements to inform the final design and implementation approach.
Other improvements approved to go ahead in Tauranga over the next 12 months
- Enabling a right turn from Ohauiti Road to Welcome Bay Road (see below)
- Variable message signs for real-time travel information
- Signal metering at the Chadwick Road/Fraser Street roundabout
- Minor line marking changes
- Carpool initiatives, including exploring a carpool app and priority parking.
Improvements will be made to the Fifteenth Avenue/Fraser Street intersection, including left in/left out restrictions on Fourteenth and Sixteenth Avenues, and a new shared path, as part of the construction of the Fifteenth Avenue to Welcome Bay project in 2027.
Proposed improvements which weren’t taken forward in the original proposal:
- HOV lanes in two sections of Fraser Street (southbound, away from the city toward Oropi Road), including 740m between Fraser Cove Shopping Centre and Baycroft Avenue and 830m between Hampton Terrace and Chadwick Road.
While HOV users would likely see some travel time savings, because of the short length of the sections, it was felt these improvements would not offer value for money.
Enabling right turn from Ohauiti Road to Welcome Bay Road
The Ohauiti Road and Welcome Bay Road signalised intersection currently has two left-turn lanes onto Welcome Bay Road (toward the SH29A roundabout). We are proposing to convert one of those lanes into a right-turn lane.
This would let drivers turn right from Ohauiti Road into Welcome Bay Road without using the SH29A roundabout, shortening trips from Ohauiti Road to Welcome Bay Road by avoiding delays at the Hairini roundabout.
Traffic modelling shows that having a second left-turn lane provides little travel time benefit, as vehicles quickly merge and queue on the short two-lane section between Ohauiti Road and the Hairini roundabout. Adding a right-turn lane delivers an expected travel time saving of about 35 to 55 seconds for all vehicles, increasing to approximately one minute in future years
We also propose removing the left-turn arrow from the centre lane on SH29A, restricting left-turn movements to the kerbside lane for traffic heading towards Welcome Bay to improve through-movement efficiency of the State Highway while not removing required turning capacity.
The existing pedestrian crossing on Welcome Bay Road will be moved about 10m to accommodate the new right turn lane.
Traffic light sequencing and line markings will also change as needed. Recent changes at the SH29A roundabout include moving the limit lines between Ohauiti Road and SH29A to allow more vehicles to queue per signal timing and only activating the right turn into Hairini Road if there are vehicles queueing.
This project is currently in the design phase, with detailed investigations, safety assessments, and engineering design work underway. Construction timing will be confirmed once the design is completed and approvals are in place. It is expected construction will get underway in early 2027.
The Ohauiti community will have an opportunity to give feedback before the plan is finalised.
Why do we need these improvements?
Major roading/works projects 2026/2030 (958kb pdf)
These works will cause temporary disruption and increased congestion before long-term benefits are realised.
Tauranga’s roads are already congested, and action is needed to keep the city moving during construction.
Congestion
These construction areas will require extensive temporary traffic management to ensure public and worker safety. These measures are essential, but it will mean reduced road capacity and disruption to the normal traffic flow along some main roads. Along these routes it is expected that travel times will be longer, particularly during peak commuting periods.
It is likely the impacts will not be isolated to the primary construction areas as motorists may seek to avoid the congestion by using a different route. This will therefore create increased pressure on the nearby roads, such as Fraser Street, Cameron Road, or alternate routes, such as SH2/Hewletts Road and SH29A.
This may result in increased congestion, longer delays, and reduced reliability across the wider network.
The maps below reflect the additional delays that may occur in morning peak time (6am to 9am) and evening peak time (3pm to 6pm). These delays will be in addition to the delays already experienced on these routes, and the delays are expected to last for a longer period of time than those that currently occur.