A piece of land on the eastern side of Rotorua originally earmarked for a bypass is now seeing some action after sitting in limbo for several decades.

Rotorua developer Tony Bradley has bought 14ha of land on Vaughan Rd once intended for the Rotorua Eastern Arterial.

The arterial was meant to be a new major highway designed to ease traffic congestion on Te Ngae Rd as part of future-proofing Rotorua’s roads.

A map produced in June 2013 highlighting the planned Rotorua Eastern Arterial.

But the controversial plans, which had been in the works since 1963, were scrapped by the Labour Government in 2016 after vocal opposition, including from three Te Arawa hapū.

The opposition included a protest march to the council buildings in 2013.

The land was previously owned by the hapū but was bought by the Crown under the Public Works Act.

The Rotorua Eastern Arterial protest in June. Photo/Stephen Parker

Bradley said a 14ha section of the land was offered back to the original owners, who sold it to him for development.

He said it was “funny” how things worked out as he had long been frustrated with the lengthy “to-ing and fro-ing” of the planned arterial route.

Bradley said some of his earlier residential projects cost more than projected, as there were sudden added resource consent stipulations such as double lining walls and windows for predicted sound issues from the arterial.

The site on Vaughan Rd before work got under way.

Also, in earlier years he had potential tenants pull out of his major Redwood Centre development, on the corner of Te Ngae and Tarawera Rds, for fear Te Ngae Rd would become a “ghost road” with traffic being bypassed on the arterial.

“It’s a bit funny in some ways. That motorway cost me so much money. The amount of stuff I have had to do for it, it’s quite ironic I’ve now got some of that land.”

Bradley’s development company, TPB Properties, was putting the finishing touches on a 1.5ha site that would be the new home for Combined Traffic Services.

The new Combined Traffic Services building is nearly complete on Vaughan Rd. Photo / Kelly Makiha

The purpose-built building will see the business move from Eastgate to the new site at the end of July.

Bradley said many of his subcontractors were leasing other sections of the land for yard space.

He would spend the next year planning what to do with about 2ha earmarked for residential development.

He said he had a couple of options for the residential section of the land but confirmed it would not include a Kāinga Ora development.

The agency has recently had a significant review of its projects and Bradley did not anticipate it would add new ones.

What the new Combined Traffic Services building will look like on Vaughan Rd. Photo / Supplied

Combined Traffic Services part-owner Dean Lawson said his staff of about 80 would be moving into the new premises in August.

He said they had outgrown their former premises at Eastgate and were looking forward to having a more central location closer to their contracts.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.