Tauranga City Council has started preliminary work needed for the construction of the new Pāpāmoa East Interchange, which will connect neighbourhoods in Pāpāmoa East to the Tauranga Eastern Link (TEL) / State Highway 2. Earthworks have begun and will require traffic lanes on the TEL to be reduced for the next six months, from Monday, 15 August.

Tauranga commission chair Anne Tolley says the interchange is much-needed and can’t come soon enough.

“It will provide people living in Pāpāmoa East with a welcome alternative travel route, no matter what their destination," says Anne.

“The interchange also means we will have the road capacity to enable more housing and commercial development in the area, which is essential to support our growing city,” she says.

Construction starts with earthworks to build the necessary height either side of the motorway. During this first phase of work, nine-metre-high embankment walls will be built, as well as a number of stormwater culverts, in preparation for construction of the interchange itself, scheduled for 2023.

This work will take place in the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road corridor, on the western side of the Kaituna River bridge.

Traffic impacts – August 2022 to March 2023
To allow this work to proceed while keeping people traveling on the road and construction staff safe, traffic on the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road (State Highway 2) will be impacted for the next six months. Traffic will reduce to one lane in both directions until Monday, 3 October, after which only a westbound lane will be closed for the remainder of the work. The speed limit will reduce to 70kph through the site for the duration of this work.

Under normal circumstances, travel time is expected to increase by less than a minute as a result of this work. As this does not materially impact travel, tolls will continue to apply.
Drivers will be notified of the work and scheduled changes to driving circumstances by digital signs either side of the worksite.

Development of the Rangiuru Business Park is also scheduled to start later this year, which means drivers on the TEL will likely encounter two worksites within in a short distance for a number of weeks. Tauranga City Council will endeavour to keep impacts on travel arising from the Pāpāmoa East Interchange work to a minimum and will work with Waka Kotahi to manage any issues which do arise.

For more information about the Pāpāmoa East Interchange and construction, visit www.tauranga.govt.nz/pei.

For up-to-date information on road works, traffic, detours and delays, drivers are encouraged to visit the Waka Kotahi Journey Planner website.

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