The Tauranga Northern Link has been taken off the chopping block, with the NZ Transport Agency confirming it will build the highway - albeit in a different form - after months of speculation.
The new state highway between Tauriko and Te Puna will have two lanes rather than the four initially proposed, but the agency was looking at adding extra lanes for buses and other high-occupancy vehicles.
Critics have welcomed the decision but also expressed frustration and noted the continued lack of a timeline for when construction of the highway, and other State Highway 2 improvements, would start.
SH2 safety improvements. Image / Supplied
The northern link was one of four major roading projects between Tauranga and Waihi that have been in limbo for months as the agency re-evaluated to see how they fitted with the coalition Government's transport priorities.
The outcomes of those re-evaluations were announced yesterday. Agency spokesman Brett Gliddon said it would speed up and extend its plan for safety improvements on SH2 between Waihi and Te Puna, one of New Zealand's deadliest stretches of highway.
Previously-announced funding of $101 million was ringfenced for improvements between Waihī and Ōmokoroa over the next five years, including 26 intersection upgrades, wider centrelines, flexible median barriers and protections against other hazards.
The agency wanted to roll those out faster and start designing and finding funding for similar improvements, to be constructed simultaneously, for the stretch between Ōmokoroa and Te Puna.
The agency would also progress with a major Omokoroa Rd intersection upgrade. What form that would take was still to be decided but Gliddon said a roundabout would make sense.
Gliddon said the long-planned Katikati bypass, however, would not happen any time soon.
The agency would keep the land designations but he said the project was not as high a priority as others.
Stuart Crosby, chairman of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's transport committee, said the Katikati community would be disappointed to see the bypass put on the backburner.
Katch Katikati promotions manager Jacqui Knight said the lack of a bypass was stifling the development of the town.
"It doesn't have to be a four-lane highway, there just needs to be an alternative route."
Gliddon said the agency hoped to have more news about the timelines and funding for projects in December, after it completed the re-evaluations of several other projects around New Zealand and weighed the priorities.
He said $216m of previously ringfenced funding for the northern link was still secure, but more was needed before construction could start.
National MPs have claimed the Government had cancelled the Tauranga Northern Link.
Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller was unrepentant yesterday, saying the tender for his government's proposed northern link - which would have seen construction starting last month - had been cancelled, criticising the new plan as "half-baked".
"The NZTA confirmation that they will consider a half-baked version of a Tauranga Northern Link 'sometime in the future' is so out of step with the community's expectation, I wonder quite frankly whether Government politicians have any idea about the needs of this community at all.
"Despite the huge community anger, they are kicking the can down our dangerous road. The TNL was needed five years ago, not in five years' time," he said.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford. Photo / File
Phil Twyford, Transport Minister, Labour
"NZTA is prioritising urgent safety improvements to these roads to make them more forgiving of human error. Drivers will always make mistakes and the government's job is to stop those mistakes turning into tragedies.
Responding to Muller he said: "If the TNL was so desperately needed five years ago, why didn't Todd Muller's government and former transport minister Simon Bridges build it?"
"What they are telling us now is yes they will keep the designations, and do the Ōmokoroa intersection and the TNL, but there is no 'when' and that's all we've been asking about.
"I don't think we are any further ahead than we were ten years ago."
"Fix the Bloody Road" campaigner Matthew Farrell. Photo / George Novak
Matthew Farrell, Fix the Bloody Road campaign spokesman
"Overall, I think we have got to be happy that a road that had its tender process cancelled is now going to be built, albeit in a new form.
While there may be some disappointment it's not a four-lane road, you have to see it as a win that this project still has more than $200 million in ring-fenced funding and will be going ahead, unlike some other projects elsewhere in New Zealand."
Bay of Plenty Regional councillor, transport committee chair Stuart Crosby. Photo / File
Stuart Crosby, Bay of Plenty Regional councillor
Crosby said it was good to see the community had been heard on SH2, though it was frustrating to face further waits for decisions about timing and funding.
"Across the region, we will be driving hard in support of the fastest and best solutions to make our region's roads safer, less congested and more sustainable."
Labour Party list MP Angie Warren-Clark. Photo / File
Angie Warren-Clark, Bay of Plenty Labour list MP
"I am thrilled to see that NZTA have completed their re-evaluation of the Tauranga to Waihi corridor ahead of schedule and that the new plan includes two additional lanes, meaning there will be four lanes of capacity on the corridor, which is exactly what the community has been asking for.
"While the delays have been frustrating, exacerbated by false claims that the road has been cancelled, we can now look forward to the NZTA getting on to fixing this road. We have waited a long time for this fix."
