Two century-old railway bridges have been replaced by new state-of-the-art bike bridges, the next link in the chain for Onerahi's $1.5 million cycleway.
Cyclists who have had to hop off their bikes for fear of being impaled on the rusty edgings of the former 60cm-wide Waimahanga Bridges can now ride on uninterrupted, with the installation of the 2.5m-wide timber replacements.
The $330,000 bridges are now open for use ahead of an August ceremony which will open the entire 6km off-road route - spanning from the tip of Onerahi peninsula and along Riverside Drive into town. The bridges come as a new bridge has been constructed on the Waipu to Riverview Walkway/Cycleway.
Whangarei Okara Ward councillor Cherry Hermon, who also served on Whangarei District Council's walking and cycling reference group, said the Onerahi cycleway route was set to become popular with commuters, as well as having recreational value.
"There's a lot of appetite for that already," she said. She said the old bridges - 21m and 24m long - were built around 1910 as part of the railway line and used until the 1930s, at which stage the Boswell family converted a portion of the line into a walking track, part of what's known as the Waimahanga walkway.