Ashburton residents might finally get a new $1.5m footpath, but only if NZTA approves the funding.
A 500-metre stretch of Allens Rd in Allenton lacks a footpath on either side of the road, raising safety concerns for users, including residents of the nearby lifestyle retirement village.
Lochlea Lifestyle Resort manager Tony Sands and other concerned residents have been calling for the council to fix the road due to fears someone could die.
District Council on Thursday discussed the potential of adding the project to the long-term plan (LTP), a blueprint for the region's priorities and spending over the next decade.
However, it would depend on NZTA's funding decisions.
NZTA removed all funding for new footpaths and cycleways in the last three-year funding cycle, delaying the council's planned footpath programme – which included Allens Rd.
Council infrastructure general manager Neil McCann told Local Democracy Reporting there is a risk that could happen again.
NZTA’s funding direction comes from government's transport policy, which could change depending on the election result, he said.
The council’s funding priority will always be road renewal and maintenance, McCann said.
Allens Rd was the only new footpath project being proposed for the LTP.
At an LTP workshop also on Thursday, council chief executive Hamish Riach said their transport budgets will be adopted in June 2027, before NZTA's land transport funding decisions in August.
If NZTA rejects the bid for the footpath funding, the project would most likely need to be deferred – if it is included at all.
Riach said work on the initial draft LTP budget would begin this week, with councillors to debate the plan in November.
Deputy Mayor Richard Wilson said he was concerned “the squeaky wheel" has pushed this issue to the forefront and it had jumped over some other projects.
Wilson was referring to the issue being covered by local media.
Riach said the footpath project was included three years ago in the council's funding submissions to NZTA, which, at the Government’s direction, removed all footpath and cycling funding to focus on pothole prevention.
“It is a piece of work that has been on council's radar for a period of time and has some sort of priority.
“It's not just the current (media) coverage of the issue that is driving our proposal.”
Roading engineer Ashein Abeysekara explained the major cost for the Allens Rd footpath is due to managing stormwater and road widening.
“If we want the footpath to go along the property boundary, we have to fill in the (stormwater) drain and put in a pipe stormwater system that doesn't flood the houses and takes that water through to Mill Creek.
“We also have to widen the road so that we can widen it up to the new footpath alignment, and put in kerb and channel.”
Lighting the new footpath also has to be factored in, he said.
“If the affordability isn't there, another option that could be considered is potentially leaving the drain as it is, leaving the road as it is, and then putting in a footpath where the grass verge is.”
The cost of just a footpath is about 10 per cent of the proposed budget, he said.
“For about $150,000, you can put a (sealed) footpath through there.
“For about $75,000 you could put an unsealed footpath.”
That would only be a temporary solution, with future developments needing the widening and upgrading of the footpath, he said.
Council to ask for road funding boost
Ashburton is planning to ask for more road funding from NZTA.
NZTA funded 51 per cent of the approved council work, which is set to increase to 52 per cent in the next three-years, but the council had to use unsubsidised funding (fully ratepayer-funded work) over the last three years to keep up with its maintenance and renewals.
Abeysekara said the district has 1600km of sealed road and the long-term plan funding allowed for four per cent to be resealed each year – completing a full reseal cycle in 25 years.
“That means each seal on average has to last about 25 years.
“Typically, we're only getting about 20 years’ life.”
The council is therefore planning to increase its bid to NZTA’s next three-year funding cycle from $3.1m to $4.7m.
It will also seek $1.8m for the unsealed network, an increase to match the $500,000 of unsubsidised funding the council put into the shingle roads over the last three years.
