Editorial: Route axing raises query

The new Victoria St Arterial route has been scrapped. Photo / Supplied

The approximately $50million Victoria St Arterial route has been scrapped.

If it had gone ahead it would have been a massive burden on Rotorua ratepayers with almost half of that cost having to be covered by the Rotorua District Council.

Credit again has to go to the council for making this decision after data revealed traffic flows in and around the city were nothing like they were predicted 10 years ago when they went ahead with the job.

Unlike the $9million spent by the council on subsidising transtasman flights, the council should be able to recoup most of the $6.3million already spent on property purchases.

Even though residents and businesses in the area spent a decade living and working with some uncertainty as to when the job would go ahead they must now be relieved to know the job will now not go ahead.

But, this decision leads to more questions about Rotorua's future, especially when it comes to roading infrastructure.

This includes Rotorua's most controversial of roading projects - the Rotorua Eastern Arterial - which has been on the books for more than 60 years and is still no closer to going ahead.

The two projects have their differences. The Eastern Arterial would be 100 per cent funded by the New Zealand Transport Agency as long as the designated route is followed.

Funding would be limited to 57 per cent if the council and the transport agency were to look at other options, like upgrading Te Ngae Rd.

The Eastern Arterial is also seen as a major route for forestry companies getting their logs to port.

But, if the Victoria St Arterial, which was to link up with the Eastern Arterial at its western end, is no longer viable surely it's also time to rethink the Eastern Arterial route.

If our local roads are coping with the traffic, including an increase in logging truck traffic, what would be the point in spending tens of millions of dollars on a road to nowhere?