The proposed new $50 million Caversham Bypass, at Dunedin's southern State Highway 1 entrance, has become so expensive it may now have to be built in two stages, with construction not beginning until 2014-15.
The two-stage option was presented to yesterday's meeting of the Otago Regional Transport committee by New Zealand Transport Agency (previously Transit) regional director Bruce Richards.
Mr Richards suggested the first stage would upgrade the Caversham Hill section, from the intersection at Barnes Dr to the top at Lookout Point. The cost would be $34.1 million.
The second stage would upgrade the two-lane road from Barnes Dr to Andersons Bay Rd at a cost of $16 million.
Mr Richards said the Dunedin City Council had indicated that stage one was a higher priority, because of the improvements it would make to safety.
As part of stage one, a bridge would be built over the highway at Lookout Point and improvements would be made to the intersection at Barnes Dr.
The hill would be four lanes - as it is at present - although a separate access lane would be built for the houses along one side.
The speed limit would be raised from 50kmh to 60kmh.
Mr Richards told the Otago Daily Times that a 100kmh highway from the city to the airport had been contemplated in the 1960s but was not practical because of the steepness of the hill at Lookout Point.
Committee member Neville Peat described the lower speed limit as "disappointing, especially when you look at the cost of it and the burden on regional funding".
Dunedin City Council representative on the committee, Syd Brown, said upgrading the bypass was the city's number one priority.
That was "a clear message" given to the council by the community.
"If we had done it when it was first put up [as a proposal], the cost would have been $20 million."
Proposed spending on the bypass is included in a public consultation document being prepared by the committee and due to be distributed about March 20.
The committee is working on an Otago land transport programme that would include $502.6 million of spending on Government-subsidised work over the next three years and an, as yet, unspecified amount of unsubsidised local authority spending.
Included in the document will be a proposal to spend $16.3 million to divert State Highway 88 around the Otago Stadium site.
The programme also includes a marked increase in proposed spending on "walking and cycling" in every district - a total $19.6 million over the next three years.
The biggest single project [($5 million] is the extension of the facility between Dunedin and Port Chalmers.
