Ratepayers may face a $30m bill

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout said he did not believe the council's decisions would change the result. Photo / George Novak

Tauranga ratepayers face a $30 million bill if a last ditch bid fails to stop a major cross-city highway being handed back to the ownership of the city council.

Councillor Steve Morris yesterday convinced the council to find out whether New Zealand's state highways authority went through the correct public consultation processes to revoke the Turret Rd/15th Ave corridor.

"I would like to be assured that the New Zealand Transport Agency has followed their statutory requirements to the letter of the law," he said.

Councillor Catherine Stewart said that she did not believe that consultation, in the full meaning of the word, took place. The bid comes less than a month before the corridor was due to be handed back to the council under the terms of a funding agreement that dated back at least 10 years.

It means the council will take responsibility for the estimated $60 million cost of widening Turret Rd and 15th Ave to four lanes, including a new bridge.

With the agency subsiding local authority roading projects by about 50 per cent, it would leave the council with a $30 million share.

Councillor Rick Curach estimated it would cost ratepayers $3 million a year once loan repayments, depreciation and operational costs were included.

He argued the corridor was a critical inter-regional route that would take pressure off Hewletts Rd once it started to reach capacity and the agency was faced with building flyovers at major intersections.

The council voted 10-1 to ask the agency to provide all the documents that were the evidence that consultation occurred, including dates. Depending on the outcome of this inquiry, the council said it would ask the agency to consider retaining the corridor as a highway because it was a convenient and robust route for freight and it connected communities.

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout said he did not believe the council's decisions would change the result. "But at least we are satisfying ourselves."

Read the previous article here: Timeline set for new $123m flyovers

The agency's Waikato/ Bay of Plenty director Harry Wilson told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend that he was "surprised and bemused" by the resolution. "We have a long documented process from various Tauranga City councils supporting the revocation and confirming the road's local function."

He said the agency and the council agreed in 2002 that, following the construction of the $244 million Harbour Link project, Turret Rd and 15th Ave would no longer provide a state highway function and would instead be used as a commuter route.

Mr Wilson said the two organisations supported the removal of the state highway status and for the road to be managed by the council as a secondary arterial. The Tauranga Transport Strategy, supported jointly in 2014 by the council and the agency, reflected this position. He said the revocation of the highway was also a funding condition for the Harbour Link project. Mr Wilson said the agency would be happy to share its evidence with the current councillors.

Councillor Bill Grainger highlighted the pre-election promise made in 2008 by John Key that a National-led Government would fund the whole Hairini Link project including the widening. He said there would be a traffic bottleneck at Turret Rd bridge when the Welcome Bay underpass opened.

Mr Curach said the widening was not programmed to happen until 2026. "It needs to be brought forward."

Councillor Gail McIntosh opposed the move.