It comes as the city grapples with “shocking” traffic delays stemming from a highway bridge closure, which locals say has resulted in five-minute drives taking up to an hour and turnover at one business halving.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said it appreciated motorists were frustrated but the abuse of stop/go workers at a detour point by a few was “disgraceful” and worsened the congestion for all.
The Utuhina Stream Bridge near Rotorua Boys High on State Highway 5/Old Taupō Rd is set to reopen three days early on Thursday night. It has been closed since September 15 for “critical” maintenance of the aging bridge. Several detours are in place.
At the Ford Rd and Malfroy Rd detour point on Monday afternoon, traffic management workers were shot at with a BB gun from a passing vehicle, Waka Kotahi Bay of Plenty and Waikato director of regional relationships David Speirs said.
“The same vehicle went through the site again [yesterday morning] and its occupants yelled abuse and threats at our stop/go workers.
“This behaviour is disgraceful. While there were fortunately no physical injuries, the incidents have been very traumatising for the workers affected.”
Speirs said the agency was “forced” to remove the stop/go operations on the detour route to keep staff and the site safe.
“Unfortunately, this will result in increased congestion and delays through the detour routes during peak times.
“The abusive behaviour of a few has risked the safety of others, and will negatively impact on everyone.”
Speirs urged drivers to treat road workers with respect.
“They are doing their part to keep road users safe and in turn, they deserve a safe working environment”.
He said the detour routes were based on its traffic modelling, with signal timings adjusted by the Tauranga Traffic Operations Centre to help keep traffic flowing.
Stop/go workers were on detour routes at peak school pick-up and drop-off hours — 7am-9am and 2pm-4pm — this week as a proactive measure to help keep traffic moving and drivers and children safe.
Spiers said the bridge work was running ahead of schedule and the State Highway 5 reopening would be brought forward to Thursday from Sunday, provided there were no unforeseen issues.
Both incidents at the detour point were reported to police.
A police spokesman said a person had been “formally warned” about Monday’s incident, with police not ruling out laying charges. The other incident was also being investigated.
He said Monday’s incident was reported at 2pm and Tuesday’s at 10am.
The Rotorua Daily Post also spoke to local residents and a business impacted by the roadworks.
Patrick’s Pies Gold Star Bakery owner Patrick Lam said turnover at his Old Taupō Rd store had dropped by about half, with fewer customers visiting.
The award-winning piemaker said he understood the work on the bridge needed to be done, but it was affecting his business “a lot”.
He said customers were commenting on the bridge closure, saying it was “very hard to get to your shop” and they “might go somewhere else for now”.
Kawaha Point resident Jo-Anne La Grouw also accepted the bridge needed to be fixed, but said the traffic had worsened this week, with schools back from holidays.
She said her usual five-minute trip home from town on Monday took an hour with the “chaotic” school traffic around 3.30pm. A 9am journey from Kawaha Point Rd to Lake Rd, which should take three minutes, took her 20 minutes.
“Everyone is really grumpy about it,” she said.
She was putting off her supermarket shop to avoid the traffic and said the usually full carpark at Parksyde Community Centre, which offered activities for ages 55 years and older, was only half full, said La Grouw, who is in her 70s.
“The older people aren’t prepared to go out and challenge the traffic.”
She said large trucks detouring through town added to the congestion, and she had seen two ambulances and a fire truck with sirens on that “couldn’t move” in “shocking” traffic on Ranolf St.
Fire and Emergency group manager Brendon Grylls said the bridge closure was having “minimal impact” on its firefighters as they had advance warning and had planned around it. They were also trained to handle traffic.
“We do appreciate it when drivers can, if possible to do so safely, move out of the way of fire trucks which are clearly responding to an emergency.”
