The Waitaki District Council needs to find at least another $2m to remove the old bridge, as well as its abutments and approaches.
And the entire project is still subject to further review by NZ Transport Agency-Waka Kotahi.
Under the 2024-25 allocations for the National Land Transport Fund, the Waitaki council had its $9.37m application for the new bridge confirmed.
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said while the council had been successful in its application, the next steps to finally realise the project were still being worked through.
"At the moment there is more detailed planning going on," Mr Kircher said.
The money, classified as for local road improvements, is the sole new land transport project for the district in 2024-25 and the replacement of the current single lane Kakanui Bridge has been in the offing for a while.
The new bridge, on a slightly different alignment and 2m higher, will provide for climate adaptation concerns.
It is a critical connection for the coastal rural zone south of Oamaru.
As well has joining both halves of the coastal Kakanui township, it performs a key resilience role as an alternative route to State Highway 1 at Maheno.
Council major transport projects manager Mike Harrison said the $9.3m allocated in the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) for the bridge "was indicated".
It would still be subject to further analysis by the transport agency.
The next council meeting on September 24 would again consider the bridge replacement programme.
"However, currently available funds do not meet the cost of the programme, which will be part of the consideration," Mr Harrison said.
The $9.3million was indicated in the recent NLTP funding, but it was "still subject to NZTA accepting a present value end-of-life analysis" council submitted that week, he said.
In April, the council heard the existing bridge had "certain restrictions", namely for classified heavy commercial vehicles.
At that stage, the budgeted figure of just over $9m was for a single-lane replacement only.
"The replacement is categorised as an asset renewal, aiming for a like-for-like replacement upgraded to meet current design standards," the council was told at the time.
The life expectancy was up to 100 years, and it was expected to handle one-in-100-year flood levels.
Mr Harrison said the council was unsuccessful in its application for another $2m, under the NZTA’s low-cost, low-risk fund.
That would have covered removing the old bridge, abutment and the current road approach, he said.
The budget design, previously presented to council, was for a 3.5m-wide traffic lane with a 1.5m-wide footpath.
The council in April heard that a double-lane option would cost about 33% extra, or between $3.1m to $4.2m, excluding land costs.
Much of the focus in the 2024-27 NLTP is on the government’s roads of national significance plan, which has mostly allocated $32.9billion for North Island major urban centre connections.
Other allocations for Waitaki under the 2024-27 NLTP include $900,000 for walking and cycling and interim funding in 2024-25 of just over $2m for local road pothole prevention.
For 2024-27, the district will receive $31.8m for its local road pothole prevention (maintenance, operations and renewal) and $12.3m for local road operations.
