The news has disappointed Dunedin deputy mayor Syd Brown, who said the Government should have considered how the South might benefit from the 6c hike in the national petrol tax all motorists will pay to fund the projects.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce yesterday announced the first seven "roads of national significance", which have been singled out as essential routes that required priority treatment.
The roads were seven of New Zealand's most essential routes that required work to reduce congestion, improve safety and support economic growth, he said.
"These roads are already very important in their respective regions.
"We want to signal to the New Zealand Transport Agency, through the government policy statement, their significance to the country as a whole."
The Dunedin City Council has been pushing for improvements to State Highway 1 on southern Caversham Valley Rd, with safety concerns at the Lookout Point and congestion concerns where it meets Andersons Bay Rd.
Asked where the Caversham Valley project stood in terms of the Government's priorities, a spokeswoman from Mr Joyce's office said it was not clear whether the project had gone down the list of priorities.
With yesterday's announcement, the minister was saying the seven roads were the priority, but the Government did not have the power to tell the New Zealand Transport Agency what to do, and "there's a lot of water to go under the bridge" with those roads.
The Government has two funding pools for roading, a national fund, and a regional fund which provides a set amount that can be accessed by each region.
The spokeswoman said no announcement had been made on the regional fund, but the Government was looking closely at it, as it was not being used to some extent, because there were difficulties with the way local authorities accessed it.
"It's not working at the moment, and I think it's something, down the track, you should hear about."
Mr Joyce told the Otago Daily Times the announcemant made no practical difference to projects like Caversham Valley, which would "just come out in the normal way".
There was more money in the national pool for all roading work, and construction and maintenance would continue in Otago.
Cr Brown said it appeared to be a clear indication there was no funding south of Christchurch.
The council had an arrangement with the previous government, whereby the Caversham Valley project was to be paid from both national and regional funding.
Now, with the change of Government, and parameters around funding, the council was "trying to take part in a game of cards we don't have a set of rules for".
"From the city council's perspective, I would hope sanity would prevail, and the Government would realise the roading network does not finish at Christchurch."
The roads
•Puhoi to Wellsford SH1.
•Completion of Auckland western ring route.
•Auckland, Victoria Park bottleneck SH1.
•Waikato expressway SH1.
•Tauranga eastern corridor SH2.
•Levin to Wellington SH1.
•Christchurch motorway projects.
