{"id":142186,"date":"2025-11-19T02:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/142186\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T02:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:10:07","slug":"rotorua-sh30a-roadworks-postponed-to-2026-as-mp-slams-nzta-for-road-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/142186\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua SH30A roadworks postponed to 2026 as MP slams NZTA for road closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a statement today NZTA apologised for the disruption caused and confirmed it would rethink its approach. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have now made the decision to postpone the SH30A work until 2026,\u201d NZTA system manager for the Bay of Plenty Sandra King said. <\/p>\n

While a full closure was set to speed up the process, NZTA now needed time to reconsider its approach, King said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, along with the wet long-range weather forecast for the remainder of November, means there isn\u2019t enough time to complete the work ahead of the Christmas shutdown period,\u201d King said. <\/p>\n

Crews would return to the site from 8pm Thursday to 5am Friday to restore the road surface to its original level.<\/p>\n

King said the work remained a \u201cpriority\u201d for 2026 to prevent pavement failures but the method may change to allow the flow of traffic through the site. <\/p>\n

\u201cUsing a different construction methodology will mean the overall timeframe will take longer but will minimise overall delays to people\u2019s daily travel,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

\" Traffic built up in Rotorua’s eastern surburbs on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Rotorua MP Todd McClay wrote a scathing letter to NZTA chief executive Brett Gliddon on Monday saying his office was \u201cinundated\u201d with complaints. <\/p>\n

He said the full closure was \u201cclearly unsustainable and unacceptable\u201d. <\/p>\n

Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, McClay said NZTA had \u201clet Rotorua and themselves down\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have requested an immediate review of the traffic management plan and the urgent implementation of measures to restore acceptable levels of access \u2013 whether through staged works, extended working hours, or partial reopening during peak periods,\u201d McClay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe road does need an upgrade but it is a very poor decision to close both sides of the road fully at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RotoruaRotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

NZTA has said a full road closure was chosen as it provided the \u201cquickest and safest\u201d way to complete the work, considering the \u201clarge volumes of machinery and equipment\u201d needed. <\/p>\n

Transport Minister Chris Bishop was approached for comment but deferred to NZTA for a response, as this was \u201can operational matter\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following Monday\u2019s traffic gridlock issues, NZTA advised it would work \u201cclosely\u201d with the Rotorua Lakes Council on plans. <\/p>\n

Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsellintervened on Monday<\/a> as the city ground to a halt. She hoped NZTA would \u201ccome back with better alternatives\u201d for how to complete the works. <\/p>\n

The full impact of Monday\u2019s gridlock is now coming to light, with businesses, schools and medical centres affected. <\/p>\n

Radiology service Canopy Imaging had several staff arrive late, while some patients missed appointments. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very challenging for us, and the impact to our community and our patients was really high,\u201d service manager Debbie Cartwright said. <\/p>\n

\" Four lanes of State Highway 30A had reopened on Tuesday morning after backlash over traffic chaos caused by roadworks on Monday. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n

Rebooking patients was \u201cextremely difficult\u201d due to already long waiting lists. <\/p>\n

Upcoming patients based in the west of the city were called in to free up later appointments for those who couldn\u2019t make it. <\/p>\n

The centre was running a breast symptomatic clinic, which meant delays caused \u201ca lot of stress\u201d for those who were late. <\/p>\n

The postponement of roadworks was a relief, Cartwright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019s not like that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA traffic tailback in Rotorua’s eastern suburbs on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Pak\u2019nSave Rotorua said they had appreciated NZTA\u2019s advance notice of this week\u2019s work, but the traffic issues on Monday placed \u201cunnecessary strain\u201d on local businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our team members spent three hours travelling to work on what is normally a 15-minute trip,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our visiting support team even walked the final few kilometres from the airport because it was faster than remaining in the traffic.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rotorua Boys\u2019 High School principal John Kendal said the school was fortunate to only have one student who missed exams due to the delays. <\/p>\n

Several staff members were caught in delays despite email and Facebook communications to allow extra travel time. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were caught off-guard,\u201d Kendal said. <\/p>\n

Rotorua Girls\u2019 High School principal Sarah Davis said three students nearly missed exams and six staff members were two hours late.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had several phone calls from very stressed wh\u0101nau trying to get their girls to school and exams on time,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a statement today NZTA apologised for the disruption caused and confirmed it would rethink its approach. \u201cWe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,806,1558,11783,17163,2082,305,9878,6368,111,43,139,1536,69,16488,42911,1314,39574,1327,83659,19993,81941,1361,61,698,379],"class_list":["post-142186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-as","tag-been","tag-brought","tag-closure","tag-for","tag-have","tag-monday","tag-mp","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-nzta","tag-postponed","tag-road","tag-roadworks","tag-rotorua","tag-sh30a","tag-slams","tag-standstill","tag-that","tag-to","tag-until","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}