QLDC releases video of $190,000 per metre arterial road

by Peter Newport - Feb 28, 2024

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has published a split screen video comparing current progress on the $128 million arterial road (Stage 1) with what the finished project will look like.

Ratepayers and councillors have already been warned that the latest cost blowout of $18 million may not be the last bit of bad news on the massively over-budget project.

Crux has recently highlighted that $2 million of extra spend on traffic management costs for the arterial project has been blamed on tourists looking at the mountains, an explanation that QLDC councillors appear to have found reasonable.

Stage one of the arterial road is only 670 metres long, meaning that at a total cost of $128 million (and counting) it will cost at least $191,044 per single metre.

The council's planned Project Manawa site - with the new arterial road running left to right - top centre. Stanley Street is the lower road, bottom centre, left to right.

Social media speculation has already highlighted whether the video features Project Manawa, or the absence of Project Manawa. What do you think?

The QLDC communications team has told Crux, "There is nothing in the fly-through video indicating possible buildings related to the Project Manawa proposals. Its sole focus is to indicate the arterial road."

Here's the video: