Tararua District Council and the Tararua Alliance has been waiting in hopeful anticipation on the outcome of an application with NZTA Waka Kotahi for funding for new footpaths in Woodville, through the central government Transport Choices Package.

Transport Choices was a government initiative to promote projects that get people walking, cycling and scooting to reduce carbon emissions. Woodville was identified as a strong candidate because many of the town’s residential streets don’t have pavements.
Around election time last year, the Council and Tararua Alliance was informed that funding decisions were on hold until the new government made its transport priorities clear. Unfortunately, NZTA Waka Kotahi has advised that our application, along with those of many other councils around the country, is now not going ahead.

Tararua Alliance Manager Dan Erard says this is a disappointing outcome for Tararua, but a political decision Council and the Alliance had no control over. “What we do have control over, and where our focus is now, is how we can best use the $100,000 of pre-implementation funding that was confirmed for Transport Choices.”

This was approved by NZTA last year for design or engineering ahead of what at that time was hoped to be the construction of new footpaths for Woodville. “The transport agency has confirmed that despite Tararua’s bid for Transport Choices construction funding not moving ahead, we are still able to use that pre-implementation money to construct a portion of the proposed project, as the basis for evaluating the benefits for future projects of this nature.”

“The next step is identifying where the prioritiy area is. We anticipate construction happening within this financial year and will keep the community updated.”