I believe the option for a new harbour crossing from Pohe Island to Port Rd is the right one. At the end of the day, it comes down to cost, and practicalities. The alternative siting from Pohe Island to Kioreroa Rd did offer advantages from a traffic management point of view, but it would have been significantly more expensive - up to $8m above the $33m budgeted in the long term council community plan.
The bridge/weir option would have been even more expensive, take a lot longer to be approved (consents alone could take up to two years) and the environmental impacts have yet to be fully determined. Maintenance issues in regards to dredging may also be very costly.
Taking the Port Rd option means the weir can still be built in the future if the environmental impact questions are answered, the money is available, and there is public support.
In the end the Port Rd bridge plan was the only one on the table; the Government has agreed to subsidise it by 50% and we were probably lucky to get that. We certainly would not have got any more for either of the more expensive options. (Normally major roading projects attract a 62% subsidy.)
The council/ratepayer side of the funding will largely come from sale of the Old Boys sports ground at Okara.
Not everyone is going to be happy with the Port Rd decision, but it is clearly the right one. The old saying ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ is certainly applicable here.