$17.5m for better roads | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Almost $17.5 million will be spent on Rotorua's roads this year - including about 80km of resealing work.

Rotorua District Council works manager Peter Dine said it would be a fairly normal year's worth of work except for one major project underway on Lake Rd.

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"We don't have a Lake Rd-type project every year, that would be the only difference," he said.

Work for the year includes the $10 million Lake Rd four-laning project, $525,000 for Te Ara o Ahi - Pathway of Fire (national cycleway project), $663,000 for the Vaughan Rd pavement upgrade and $180,000 for a new roundabout on the corner of Fenton and Devon Sts.

Mr Dine said once complete an upgraded Lake Rd would feature a roundabout at the intersection of Dinsdale St and Railway Rd, a new bridge and traffic lights installed at the intersection of Tarewa Rd and Ariariterangi St.

This year sees almost 80km of resealing work scheduled around the district. In rural areas 58.9km of road is scheduled to be resealed, while in urban areas 20.5km of road would be resealed in the coming year.

A plan to build three new roundabouts on Fenton St would begin this year.

Mr Dine said almost 100 crashes had been recorded along Fenton St within a five-year period with most of the accidents happening at the intersection of Fenton St, Ti St and Malfroy Rd.

School warning signs had already been installed outside Owhata Primary and St Mary's Primary schools and a traffic-calming project (speed bumps) would soon be begun on Blomfield St.

Mr Dine said the council's transport programme was made up of two parts - work subsidised by Land Transport New Zealand and work funded by the council alone.

"Renewal and operational programmes are supported by the [council's] Transport Asset Management Plan in which the cost of maintenance is determined by the level of service defined in the plan," he said.

"For example, road roughness and response times. This is all about long-term sustainability of the asset."

He said guidelines for strategic projects, such as Lake Rd and the Rotorua Eastern Arterial, were set out in the Rotorua Transport Strategy, which is prepared as a requirement of the Land Transport Act and for Government funding.

"The strategy sets the strategic levels of service - for example, congestion and safety - and determines long-term growth. From that the future requirements of the transport network are calculated.

"This is where projects such as the Lake Rd and Victoria St arterial are determined and includes New Zealand Transport Agency fully funded projects such as the Eastern arterial."

He said unsubsidised projects were those the council chose to fund under specific policy, such as seal extensions and rural street improvements.

"These projects do not meet the criteria set out in the act for funding by NZTA."