The amount of money spent on Dunedin roading projects over the next three years could be cut by nearly $10 million, as the Dunedin City Council grapples with reduced funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency.
A report to be considered at the infrastructure services committee meeting next week recommended a reduced plan for roading over the period, as the city faced a $9.4 million reduction in the transportation budget in the 2009-12 period.
The budget was funded jointly by the council, which contributed 35% towards the cost of roading projects, and the agency, which contributed the other 65%.
Yesterday, council project engineer Evan Matheson confirmed the agency cut to its Dunedin allocation of 8.5% meant the council would need to reduce its own works programme and spending to avoid a funding shortfall.
Together, the cuts would result in a combined drop in spending on Dunedin roads over three years of $9.4 million, he said.
His report recommended councillors accept the revised budget and work programme.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, Mr Matheson said the changes would not hit maintenance, safety projects or major improvements such as the planned Riccarton Rd upgrade.
However, the pace of bridge replacement work planned around the city would slow, with some projects deferred and others rejigged.
Plans to replace the Brighton Rd bridge over the Kaikorai Estuary, due for 2010-11, would be delayed by two years, as it was "not considered to be a high structural risk", he said.
That would allow work on "higher-risk" bridges, including the Wingatui Bridge over the Silver Stream, to proceed, he said.
He was confident the changes would not raise safety concerns.
"We had hoped to do two bridges a year for the next few years. Now it will just be one major bridge a year," he said.
Elsewhere, the pace of cycleway development - other than the Port Chalmers to Ravensbourne route - would be halved, in line with the agency cuts, he said.
Other renewals work, including road widening on Portobello Rd, would be reorganised, although the completion date would not change, he said.
This year's funding announcements represented a change in emphasis by the agency towards projects with an economic benefit, particularly in areas with larger populations, but the extent of the cuts was unexpected, he said.
"That has upset the apple cart. It was not expected to this extent . . . They [Government] are still spending the same amount of money overall, but there are winners and losers," he said.
Mr Matheson's report would be considered by councillors at the meeting on Monday.
