Otago is in line for roading improvements worth more than $400 million, including the construction of a new Kawarau Falls bridge and the completion of a shared walking and cycling path between St Leonards and Port Chalmers.
The New Zealand Transport Agency today announced details of improvements to Otago's transport system with a provisional cost of $406 million over the next three years, through the 2015-18 National Land Transport Programme.
The investment in Otago for 2015-18 includes about $180 million for maintaining local roads and $82 million for the region's state highway network.
Key projects include:
- Construction of a new two-lane bridge at Kawarau Falls on SH6 near Queenstown to provide a safer and more resilient southern highway connection into the Wakatipu Basin.
- Growth of public transport in Dunedin and Queenstown
- Completion of the final stage of the SH88 shared walking and cycling path between St Leonards and Port Chalmers.
- A $2.6 million seal extension to The Nuggets Road, a popular regional tourist route.
NZTA Southern Regional Director Jim Harland said the planned investment in the region's transport network over the next three years aimed to maintain the efficiency, overall resilience and safety of the region's road network.
"We've been working closely with local authorities in Otago for several months to ensure that funding is carefully targeted to the areas and the activities where it is needed and delivers the best outcomes for the greatest number of people in the region," he said.
"We will continue working closely with them as the 2015-18 National Land Transport Programme is implemented over the next three years."
The NLTP is a partnership between local authorities who invest local funding on behalf of ratepayers and the Transport Agency which invests national funding from petrol taxes, road user charges and vehicle registration and licensing fees through the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF).
The $13.9 billion 2015-18 NLTP includes $10.5 billion from the NLTF with the remainder primarily from local authorities.
Auckland gets 30% of national funding
Auckland is receiving 30 per cent of the national land transport budget of $13.9 billion over the next three years.
NZTA announced that the Super City - with about one third of the country's population - would receive $4.2 billion for state highways, local roads, public transport, walking, cycling and road policing.
About 75 per cent of that would be Government money from the National Land Transport Fund, into which all fuel taxes are paid.
Auckland's share of the overall "partnership" pot will include $1.175 billion for public transport, $960 million to maintain highways and local roads, and $91 million to improve cycling and walking.
That is additional to $24.75m the Government said last week it would contribute to Auckland from its $100m urban cycleways fund.
Today's transport announcement opens the way for early starts on a $1 billion package of road freight connections between the Southern and Southwestern motorways, and also commits funds for the first time to design an extension of the Northern Busway, from Constellation Drive to Albany.
It also includes $48m to continue preparations for a $760m motorway extension to Warkworth, which the Government hopes will be built as a public private partners from late next year.
The transport programme has allocated $268m to widen the Southern Motorway beyond Manukau, and has increased the budget to complete the Waterview Connection and related projects along the Northwestern Motorway on Auckland's long-awaited western ring route from $2b to $2.27b.
