$16m for next stages of arterial road in QLDC plan

by Kim Bowden - Aug 30, 2024

Money has been put aside in the Queenstown Lakes District Council's budgets to move forwards with Queenstown's controversial arterial road, but in the coming decade there are no funds to actually build the thing.

Instead, the council is proposing to commit $11.5 million to acquiring some of the land it needs for the ongoing route, and another $4.4 million to initial design work for it.

However these funds don't start to become available until at least the sixth year of the plan - 2029 to 2030.

The work allocated for will get stages two and three of the CBD bypass route through a preliminary design phase, a council spokesperson says.

"Part of this would be to inform potential land acquisition requirements for which budget is allocated from year eight," they say.

"Detailed design of stages two and three is not currently budgeted for in the draft LTP. Similarly, the balance of any land acquisition funding is currently beyond June 2034."

Stage one of the project is expected to open in December.

However, the arterial road will not fulfil its purpose of taking traffic around the town centre until stages two and three are complete.

As a result, the $128 million stage one section has been dubbed 'the road to nowhere'.

While $50 million in funding for this first section has come from central government, the remainder is being paid for by Queenstown Lakes ratepayers, with central Queenstown property owners set to pay proportionately more than most.

The actual distance of the stage one section is disputed, with the Queenstown Lakes District Council asserting it is 1,070 metres long, while more conservative estimates put it at closer to 700 metres.

Using the council's figure, the current cost per metre of stage one of the arterial road is $119,626; using the more conservative figure the cost per metre is $182,857.

In February, when they agreed to stump up a further $17.7 million for stage one, the mayor and councillors were warned it may still not be enough funds to get the job finished.

Close to $2 million of that budget blowout was attributed to additional traffic management costs alone.

The full route was granted resource consent through the government's Covid-19 fast track consenting legislation in 2021.

A council spokesperson says this "effectively ‘future proofs’ the route itself".

But "the project still needs significant design work that would require the relevant consents," they say.

Stage two of the route requires the demolition of the Queenstown Memorial Centre, also home to the RSA, and the squash and rugby clubs.

The project is being lead by the council through the Kā Huanui a Tāhuna alliance, alongside the New Zealand Transport Agency, Beca, Downer, Fulton Hogan and WSP.

Two weeks ago the council published its latest 'flyover' video of stage one.