Work on the new road won't begin until between 2020 and 2025. The aim is to improve safety and travel times. Te Ngae Rd, an important freight route, is becoming too congested.
The New Zealand Transport Agency says the chosen route is the most economic, the option with the widest benefits and the least impact on landowners and businesses.
Sounds good but the owners of homes and Maori land in the path of the proposed new roadway might disagree.
Affected hapu are already understood to be preparing to fight it in the courts.
Community leaders have spoken out in support of the project, saying it's very important for the Rotorua economy and people "out that way" - meaning Eastern suburbs - have known "for years" about the designated route. Maybe so but that won't lessen the impact.
Whatever happens, the concerns of any aggrieved parties must be taken seriously and considered, really considered, before we plough ahead.
Like most people, I understand the need for towns and cities to develop and redevelop, to improve infrastructure for ongoing economic development and growth, to move and change with the times.
But it's very easy to say 'let's go ahead and do this' when you're not personally affected, when it's not your house in the way of progress, when you personally have no connection to land that will be carved up in the name of economic growth and road safety, when it's not your business or livelihood which will be affected.
We expect that bureaucrats, decision-makers and leaders always have the common good at heart, that they put themselves in the other person's shoes when developing projects like this. We would expect them to show some empathy and give appropriate and serious consideration to the effects on individuals, groups and businesses.
Just because this route will have the least impact of the options which were considered, doesn't lessen the reality for those who are affected, however few they may be in number.
I have no idea what it's like to be told my house, land or business is in the way of an important new roading project and asked if I could please agree to sell it. Therefore, I'm in no position to judge those who do and may decide to stand up in protest. That is their right.
While I might accept it if I were convinced it would be for the good of Rotorua, I still wouldn't be particularly happy about being forced out of my home or having to give up part of my land. It would still be an upheaval.
A house and land mean different things to different people and for many, they are not just a building or piece of dirt, they are worth much more than any compensation that might be offered.
Progress is inevitable and necessary but if I were affected by this project, I would like to think my community would be empathetic and supportive, whatever stand I decided to take, as would be my right.
Ingrid Tiriana is a freelance writer based in Rotorua
