After seeing heavy traffic on Fraser St, Callister took what she thought would be the quicker route via Chadwick Rd, forgetting about the road closure.
“It was wild.”
She said she had little choice but to wait and eat her takeaway dinner in the car while crawling home.
“I ate my fish and chips without tomato sauce in my car.”
Calliser said she arrived home about 6.15pm.
She said she had seen social media posts warning about the roadworks but had not given them much thought.
“I’d just been paid, so I thought I’d go get dinner and treat myself.”
Callister said she understood the repairs were necessary and urged other motorists to be patient.
“It’s also not nature’s fault that it decided to slip.
“When you’re stuck in traffic like that, everybody’s trying to get home. Letting another car in front of you isn’t really going to put you 20 minutes behind. We’re all in the same boat.”
Major works on Ōropi Rd will include a 60m rock wall to secure the bank. Photo / Tauranga City Council
Unify Body and Being owner Michelle Woolley said the slip repairs had added up to 45 minutes to some clients’ travel times.
“It’s made a massive difference.”
The Cameron Rd business owner’s studio is near Maleme St, and she said clients were arriving late and appointments were being pushed back.
She said she had to put out a message to clients telling them to allow extra travel time.
“I was just talking to a client, and they said the traffic was completely stopped all the way from New World Gate Pa to mine.”
Woolley said the traffic issues caused her clients to arrive stressed.
“My sessions are first and foremost about helping people feel safe in their bodies … by calming the central nervous system, the body can shift out of a constant state of stress and into one of rest.
“There’s absolutely no point in getting frustrated. It’s only going to make it worse for everyone.”
Contractors work on a 60m rock wall designed to stabilise the Ōropi Rd slip. Photo / Zoe Blake
Tauranga City Council transport system operations manager Shawn Geard said the congestion had been anticipated, although traffic had been backing up earlier in the day than expected.
“We had expected delays in the southbound direction [towards SH29A] at peak travel times worse than a bad weekday peak.
“Traffic data over the past few days broadly aligns with this assessment; however, it shows that the delays are occurring from around midday, not only at peak times.”
He said carrying out the work at night would significantly increase health and safety risks, while reopening both lanes during peak periods was not practical because setting up and packing down the site each day would leave limited working time.
“Once this phase of work is completed, our traffic management will only require nighttime lane closures.”
Gerard said the council had increased public communication before the project began, warning motorists and encouraging them to use alternative routes where possible.
“We understand the traffic delays associated with this lane closure create significant disruption for the community and thank people for their understanding.”
Both lanes on Ōropi Rd will reopen from Friday to Sunday to ease travel over the Matariki long weekend before the southbound lane closure is reinstated until July 19.
Gerard said the project remained on schedule.
Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post.