The majority of storm damaged roads in the Western Bay of Plenty have reopened, but the repair bill could total $20 million.

Severe weather in January and Cyclone Gabrielle a week later caused more than 100 slips in the district that damaged roads.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council transportation manager Jim Paterson provided an update on the repair progress at the council's project and monitoring meeting on Tuesday.

His report to council shows the estimated costs of repairs at $19,077,971.

'The good news is we've been able to progress the original 15 or so road closures. So we've pretty much got everything open except Te Puna Station Road.”

Te Puna Station Road was down to one lane prior to anniversary weekend because of slip damage, then it was fully closed after more slips.

Parts of the cycleway along the road completely washed away toward the Wairoa River.

Deputy Chief Executive and infrastructure general manager Gary Allis says the council would install concrete barriers at the closure to try and avoid or reduce the antisocial behaviour and rubbish dumping that was occurring.

Allis says an assessment is underway into the options to either reinstate a one lane section of the road or close it to vehicles but keep the cycleway.

He says the main factor in the council's assessment of this will be traffic flows.

'If it's a single lane, it'll be an exit from Te Puna.

'Reopening as a two lane road will be extremely difficult and expensive.”

The estimated cost to reopen the road fully will be around $4 million, says Allis.

'We would be struggling to justify that and get the funding for it.”

Reopening it to a one lane road would be less than $1 million, Allis estimates.

'There will be a community consultation process about what the community's views is on closing it or reopening as a single lane.”

Work is also continuing on plans for a permanent bridge on No. 4 Road in Te Puke.

The bridge over Raparapahoe Stream washed out on January 29, affecting the 30 properties above it.

The Bailey bridge opened on No 4 Road in March. Photo: Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

A temporary Bailey bridge was opened in March and the goal is to replace this with a permanent one within a two year timeframe, says Patterson.

He says it's possible that the timeline 'might slide”. Projected costs for the permanent bridge is $8 million.

Other sites that are affected by storm damage include, Oropi Gorge Road, Rocky Cutting Road, Lund Road, No. 3 Road in Te Puke, Wairoa Road and Te Puke Quarry Road.

Funding for the repairs will come from the council and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

Normally Waka Kotahi co-funds roading projects at 51 per cent, this increased to 71 per cent when the annual costs increased above 10 per cent of the roading programme.

But, the government recently committed to fund initial emergency works response activity to 91 per cent up to June 2023, due to the cyclone's impact on the upper North Island's local roading network.

Patterson says the $20 million annual cost for emergency event works is 'unusual” compared to previous years.

'We've been talking Waka Kotahi in terms of trying to maximise the amount of work or level of delivery we can achieve before the end of the current year because we get that at 91 per cent [contribution] as opposed to our usual.

'We are going as hard and fast as we can to spend as much of that before the end of the financial year.”

-Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.