On the road to where?
One highway, its horrors and those on a mission to help.
Toted as one of New Zealand’s most notorious stretch of roads, State Highway 2’s dangerous reputation has secured it a top spot in news headlines. However, despite rising death and serious injury numbers, road capacity at 150% and Bay of Plenty officials and locals all pleading for change, there’s still no sign of works on a four-lane highway between Tauranga and Katikati. However, Fix Our Bloody Road chief Andrew Hollis isn’t taking the back streets when it comes to change.
“New roading was promised to the people of Tauranga by Land and Transport in 1995 – over two decades ago. The land is there to develop – Geotech reports are done – funds are sitting there ready to be used,” says Andrew. “Why isn’t it going ahead? The straight answer is no one knows.”
Frustrated and fuelled by his own fears for the safety of his children, family and friends on this stretch of road, Andrew started up the Fix Our Bloody Road Campaign in Feb 2018. Over 12 months in, he’s backed by over 8,000 volunteers who have signed petitions, staged peaceful protests and fronted up to parliament for answers.
“Many people want to know what the council is doing about the road,” says Andrew. “Well they can’t actually do anything until the government press go. We have the support of the Tauranga regional and city councils and local National MPs, but they are not the ones holding it up.”
“Our road is at bursting point. Every 45 seconds a truck passes through Katikati and rumbles its way through Te Puna and Bethlehem, cutting corners and rolling over roundabouts.”
On average, four people a year die on this stretch of road, with multiple people suffering serious injuries. Sirens are heard every day.
“People who live in Omokoroa, Whakamarama and Te Puna live with this constant fear, because every time you hear a siren you instantly question: Who is it this time, do I know them, are my neighbours home, is the school bus in yet?” says Andrew. “I have a friend Shane who has a grab bag sitting by his front door because there’s been so many accidents happen right outside his property, he knows he’ll be the first one on the scene.”
Road upgrades aren’t a foreign concept in the Bay of Plenty region – safety works from Waihi to Omokoroa are currently underway – but the highway remains at a standstill.
“Personally, I think it’s old school ideology holding it all back,” he says. “We’ve never supported the idea of four-lane highways in this country. We’ve had an overabundance of development and people moving into Omokoroa the past five years and yet no money has been spent on this road since 1960. We’ve held back and now we’re all paying for it.”
What will Andrew and his campaigners not hold back on? “We’ll continue to fight for this. We’ve followed all the rules and regulations with our petitioning and protesting, we’ve remained calm and collected. But we want to see traction, so if that means stepping our actions up a notch, we’ll do it.If we have to disrupt big business in Tauranga we will.”