Burnout worries on storm-hit road

• Author: Kiri Gillespie
• Published date: 25 May 2023
• Publication title: Katikati Advertiser

The future of Te Puna Station Rd was discussed at a Western Bay of Plenty District Council projects and monitoring committee meeting on Tuesday

The road was closed to traffic during Auckland Anniversary weekend in January because of large slips from severe weather. The damage was so significant in some places, chunks of the Ōmokoroa to Tauranga cycleway were lost to the sea.

It will likely be a year before the road is opened again, if at all.

In the meeting, councillor Margaret Murray-Benge asked if council staff were considering “the anti-social behaviour going on down there”.

“I think it’s quite serious. There’s a lot of drug dealing, there’s homelessness. It just seems to be not a nice place to be.”

Deputy chief executive and general manager of infrastructure group Gary Allis responded: “These will be factors we will take into account as part of that assessment.”

After the meeting, Allis told the Bay of Plenty Times that while there was talk of the anti-social behaviour the council was yet to receive “any official reports”.

The council was aware of people moving barriers to allow access for vehicle “burnouts”.

Allis said it would be a minimum of 12 months before a decision was made on the road’s future and whether it would reopen as two lanes, one lane, or at all.

For now, the council was working to “create a safer space” while the road was closed.

Some of the over-slip material was being moved against the bottom of the bank. Once this was done, the cycleway component of Te Puna Station Rd would be reopened — reconnecting the Ōmokoroa to Tauranga Cycleway.

In addition to this, concrete barriers would be placed across the road to stop vehicle access.

“This stops the...