After more than a decade of debate and false starts, council staff are again talking to property owners in the area about buying 2m-wide strips of private land to create room for safety improvements along the road.
The $2.6 million upgrade, known as Option B, was first approved by city councillors last year and aimed to improve safety on the narrow road for residents, pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.
In the project, the road would be widened to 7m, with two 1.5m-wide shoulders, and be completed in stages, possibly over a decade, as sections of the existing road's surface came up for renewal.
The council's share of the project would be $1.37 million, largely from existing renewals budgets, while the New Zealand Transport Agency was expected to cover the remaining $1.23 million; although some uncertainty remained over a subsidy for land purchase costs.
As part of the project, councillors at a recent meeting of the infrastructure services committee voted to allocate $400,000 in funding for land purchases, as well as landscaping and other mitigation work.
The funding would begin with $50,000 in 2012-13, followed by $200,000 in 2013-14 and $150,000 in 2014-15.
Council projects engineer Evan Matheson said he was in talks with 21 landowners along Riccarton Rd to update them on the project and gauge their willingness to discuss selling land to the council.
Formal sales negotiations were yet to begin, but there appeared to be "strong support" for the project, with many owners indicating a willingness to consider selling land, he said.
He would not give exact numbers, and acknowledged some still did not support the project, but remained confident the council "might be on the right track this time".
"I think we have probably never been in a better position to actually see something happen, this time around," he said.
It would be "premature" to say what might happen if some owners refused to sell, but other options were available, he said.
That included using a notice of requirement to acquire land, although that was "not an option we would go to lightly".
"At this stage we want to have a willing seller, willing buyer, scenario," Mr Matheson said.
It was also "possible" some owners might want the council to buy their entire property, rather than a 2m-wide slice, but the council would be taking "a wait-and-see approach", he said.
A caveat might make individual sales agreements subject to other landowners agreeing to sell to the council, he said.
That was yet to be decided, but would be a "prudent" business approach rather than an attempt to "put any heat" on reluctant sellers, he said.
"I expect council would be trying to get some certainty that we have got enough of the property owners on board before we start handing over money."
Council city property staff were expected to begin formal negotiations by the middle of the year, and it was hoped the first sales agreements could be completed by late this year.
Detailed design work for the first two stages was expected to be completed by the end of the year, when it should also be clear whether an NZTA subsidy would be available for land purchases, he said.
Without the subsidy, the difference would have to come from rates funding or existing council budgets, he said.
The progress was the latest step in an issue involving more than a decade of debate between those - including the council - who wanted the road upgraded to improve safety and some residents who suspected the council was pushing to convert the road to an arterial route for heavy traffic.
Opponents had vowed to fight the project all the way to the Environment Court in the past.
In late 2009, the council published a notice of requirement to acquire, by negotiation or force, private land needed for an earlier $5.4 million upgrade plan, only to withdraw the notice in May 2010.
That decision came after a panel of commissioners asked for substantial changes to the road's proposed development plan, and the New Zealand Transport Agency indicated it would not fund the modified work.
Option B was confirmed in April last year, with backing from the Mosgiel Taieri Community Board, despite a warning from Cr John Bezett at the time the process could become "unpleasant" if residents refused to sell land.
