Pressure from Western Bay's rural ratepayers has succeeded in adding $2.5 million to the money earmarked to seal gravel roads.
The boost in funding to $3.5 million meant the Western Bay District Council will seal at least 12km of rural roads this year - four times the distance achieved previously. It was done without resorting to rate increases but from the council tapping into roading surpluses.
Mayor Ross Paterson said after yesterday's meeting that the council had come under increasing pressure over the last two or three years to increase the pace of seal extensions. There were about 188km of unsealed roads left in the district.
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One million of the $2.5 million funding top-up was from a surplus in long-term roading budgets for works on Te Puke Highway - the former section of SH2 that returned to council ownership after the Tauranga Eastern Link was built.