Some of the extra $1 billion for state highways could make its way to Dunedin, but the city will be competing with the rest of New Zealand to attract the funding.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce told the Otago Daily Times last night the money would go towards national funding, rather than the regional funding package.
Regional funding is a pool of money provided for each region.
Local authorities can apply for national funding, and the pool will be bigger following yesterday's announcement, but they will have to compete on issues such as traffic volumes, which are obviously larger in big centres.
Deputy Mayor Syd Brown said the main priority for Dunedin was improving State Highway 1 at Caversham, but that would be paid for by regional rather than national funding.
Mr Joyce said decisions on where the extra money would go had not been made, and success depended on the project put forward through the New Zealand Transport Agency.
"The point to make is the extra fuel excise goes into the fund overall," he said.
"It doesn't [just] go into Auckland."
