We can find ranking of the economic and wider benefits for this road compared to other roading projects in the print version of the Regional Land Transport Strategy for the Waikato Region 2006-2016, page 111.
The only score less than high (H) for the East Taupo Arterial (ETA) is Medium (M) for Efficiency, which is assigned “based on a traditional cost/benefit ratio, showing the economic return”.
The risk of building a town bypass is that less people will visit, and thus will spend less money in the original town centre: however, this did not seem too much of a concern when the bypass was discussed by local business leaders in 2002.
New SH1 route to bypass Taupo – Nov 26, 2002 NZ Herald
Shop Taupo spokesman … said local businesses did not believe the ETA would result in a drop off in visitor numbers despite projections that 4000 vehicles a day would use the new route.
No retail developments would be allowed the 15km-long route
Now, in 2014, we can look back at the change in traffic: the estimate of 4,000 fewer vehicles per day was pretty close to what has actually happened, when we look at data from NZTA-SH-traffic-volumes
| Taupo – SH1 20m Nth of Control Gate Bridge | Recession | ETA opens Oct 2010 | |||||
| Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Cars | 27,090 | 26,159 | 26,586 | 22,965 | 22,889 | 22,889 | 23,367 |
| Heavy | 2,165 | 1,670 | 1,879 | 1,916 | 1,033 | 809 | 1,127 |
| Total | 29,255 | 27,829 | 28,465 | 24,881 | 24,021 | 23,695 | 24,494 |
The Shop Taupo spokesman’s comment “No retail development would be allowed” turns out to be wishful thinking: there is now a large petrol station, and a Hardware Shop, at the ETA intersection with SH5.
Other businesses will likely be attracted to this intersection, as has happened in other towns with this type of change to their transport networks, as reported here (Economic evaluation of town bypasses – NSW):
One third of highway-oriented businesses along the old routes closed following bypass construction. However, just as many new businesses opened during the same study periods – many along the new bypass routes.
Also, across the road at this intersection, the local council has plans for a mixed use Campus
The Campus will contain its own residential/visitor accommodation and limited retail functions although its primary focus remains industry, education and research
Finally, here is a table from Taupo District — Economic Monitor Dec Quarter 2013, showing changes to Taupo. The report is worth a quick read as it gives useful comparisons to other towns.
