Dunedin's harbourside arterial route roading project can go ahead, after funding of $17.06 million was secured from the Regional Land Transport committee yesterday.
The project, described as the biggest in Dunedin since the one-way system in the 1960s, is expected to start in spring.
Council transportation manager Don Hill said it was good to get the project approved.
The rest of the money would come from rates.
Initially, work would concentrate on altering intersections in the Strathallan St area.
Work would begin further north next year.
The project would improve access to the harbourside, remove heavy traffic from the eastern part of the tertiary campus and realign State Highway 88 beyond the Awatea St stadium.
The $17 million grant meant the committee was allocating more money than it expected to receive from a 5c-a-litre petrol levy - about $100 million in Otago for the next 10 years.
But projects such as the widening of Caversham Valley Rd to four lanes, and the Kawarau Falls bridge, had boosted funding to over $100 million.
Dunedin deputy mayor Syd Brown, supported by committee chairman Stephen Cairns, said the committee should go beyond the funding limit, as project costs changed over time.
