Editorial: We come to the end of the road

Te Ngae Rd. Photo / File

A roading project that would have dramatically changed the face of our city has been shelved.

The Victoria St Arterial, initially referred to as the Victoria St Expressway, will not go ahead, it was announced yesterday.

The route would have linked up with the proposed Eastern Arterial and run from Te Ngae Rd, down Victoria St behind the mall and across Pererika St to Pukuatua St and the Tarewa Rd intersection.

Over the past 11 years, a lot of time and effort had gone into planning the bypass, and more than $6 million of local properties had been bought by the council in preparation.

Initially proposed in 2003, the project got the green light in 2009, and was hailed as "future-proofing" the city. Council staff said Rotorua "could not afford to miss out on this opportunity".

In 2011 the road was described as "vital" for the safety of residents and the city's future economic growth.

As recently as last year the road was a clear priority. In a story about Steve Chadwick putting her hand up for the mayoralty, mayor Kevin Winters said it was one of two major local roading projects he wanted to see completed - the other being the Eastern Arterial.

Then earlier this year it became clear the project could not realistically go ahead for at least 15 years due to the council's financial situation.

The writing was on the wall. How vital could the arterial route really be?

Yesterday it got the chop. The situation had clearly changed, and the council says the arterial is "not the right solution" and that there are "better, more cost-effective solutions".

We should welcome this development - it looks like everyone's done their homework on it. But a question remains. If the review, prompted by the council's new financial framework, hadn't happened, would everything still be going ahead? And could the whole project have been nipped in the bud even earlier? At what point was the arterial no longer a vital opportunity for Rotorua?