Tauranga Eastern Link

Tauranga Eastern Link begins at Te Maunga (near Baypark Stadium) in Tauranga and follows its existing route to the Domain Road intersection with State Highway 2 at Papamoa. It then leaves the current state highway route and crosses rural land parallel to Tara Road, across Parton Road and along the sandhills to the Kaituna River at the end of Bell Road. At this point the highway crosses the river and carries on past the Kaituna Wildlife Management Reserve. It heads south east across dairy farms and orchard lots before rising up over the railway line to join the existing junction of State Highways 2 and 33 (the Rotorua and Whakatane highways) near Paengaroa.

• 21km four lane wire rope median-divided highway.
• Over three million cubic metres of earthworks.
• Seven bridges.
• 550,000 square metres of new road.
• 300,000 native plants were planted.

• It supports planned residential, commercial, and industrial development at Te Puke, Papamoa East and Rangiuru Business Park. This enables growth and productivity gains along the eastern corridor in a sustainable and managed way, benefiting the western Bay of Plenty as a whole.
• It reduces the time of a return trip between Paengaroa and Te Maunga by up to 24 minutes, driving down the cost of transport.
• The road is a four lane highway with a median barrier which provides safer traffic flow, thus reducing the number of serious and fatal crashes.
• It takes regional traffic, particularly heavy traffic, out of main street Te Puke and Waitangi which means less noise and pollution and safer access for pedestrians and other users wanting to conduct their business or community activities in the main streets.
• The new suburb of Papamoa East has both state highway and local road access to ensure, as far as possible, that neither option is congested with too many cars. 

• Contributes to a sustainable growth management strategy - to ensure that the consequences of unmanaged growth such as, unplanned infill housing, traffic congestion and in some areas, a poorer standard of living do not happen.
• Improves productivity for commercial transport operators – certainty of travel times is critical for business productivity and growth, and as it is a key strategic transport corridor it helps develop more efficient transport movements and enhance access for the Bay of Plenty region to Tauranga from the east (Te Puke, Whakatane, Kawerau, Opotiki, Gisborne) and south (Rotorua, Taupo). This is a key route for trucks servicing the Port of Tauranga.
• Reduces congestion in key areas to help enable future growth – by providing a safer and more direct route for vehicles travelling between Tauranga and Paengaroa. Currently, 21,000 vehicles use State Highway 2 each day between Te Maunga and Te Puke. 

During 2009, public were consulted on whether they supported Tauranga Eastern Link being a toll road so construction could start up to ten years earlier.

Tolling received significant community support (92% both conditional and unconditional) and as a result, NZTA submitted a tolling proposal to Cabinet. In July 2010 Cabinet approved the route could be tolled and construction has started.

For more information about the tolling consultation please view the following documents:

• Tolling consultation report(external link) (PDF, 275KB)
• Tolling consultation briefing document(external link) (PDF, 3.57MB) 

• Tolling animation(external link)
• Tolling info sheet(external link) (PDF, 78KB)
• NZTA toll roads(external link)(external link)