Western Bay of Plenty District Council's engineering consultants have investigated building the Katikati Bypass as a local road. This road would follow the same alignment as the NZTA version but without roundabouts at each end. They estimate it would cost $68.7m. The minimum share for Council would be $33.7m. However, the consultants conclude that "the likelihood of receiving NZTA funding is low" and that "based on simple accounting assumptions, the income from tolls is unlikely to cover repayments on borrowings of up to $40m."

Council's consultants do not say what assumptions they made, so the Katikati - Waihi Beach Residents and Ratepayers Association has made our own assumptions and calculated what income might be expected from tolls.

The NZTA Average Annual Daily Traffic count for SH2 just north of Katikati is 12,698 vehicles, 13 per cent of which are heavy vehicles. We assumed that 50 per cent of the 11,048 light vehicles and 90 per cent of the 1650 heavy vehicles would take the bypass if it was available. We assumed the same tolls as for the Takitimu Drive Toll Road in Tauranga ($1.90 and $5.00) and calculated this would bring in $6.5 million a year.

That should easily be enough to pay for the road.

K Hay, Katikati - Waihi Beach Residents and Ratepayers Association