A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
The council decision last week to retain the Taruheru River Walking and Cycleway in its next Long-Term Plan (LTP), and to approve a budget of $62,000 for the local share of a business case to access external funding for it, was a relief.
This exciting project will create a scenicand safe east-west route through the city for pedestrians and cyclists. It was first mooted in the mid-1960s and has strong public support and clear wellbeing gains. A 4.5km extension of the popular beach and riverside walkway/cycleway all the way out to Campion Road, it has major urban transport, recreation and tourism benefits — and needs to be prioritised and brought, finally, to fruition.
It was included in the 2015-2025 LTP, with $2.85 million of part-funding allocated in 2019-2021. However, affordability and difficulty question marks saw the council shift in 2016 towards an Aberdeen Road cycleway, estimated to cost $3.8m, to provide an alternative “spinal” cycle route through the city.
A public outcry and intervention from Mayor Meng Foon saw that shelved and a feasibility study of the Taruheru extension commissioned. Made public in April 2017, it proposed 2km of timber boardwalk in the riverbed — to avoid conflict with property owners and add scenic qualities — as well as 2.5km of concrete footpath, plus adjoining connections to schools, sports clubs and neighbourhood reserves, at an estimated cost of $6.8m.
The 2015-2025 LTP had $9m budgeted for walking/cycling intersection and route safety improvements; $6.5m of that was yet to be spent when the 2018-2028 LTP was put together but its “back-to-basics” focus on major infrastructure projects and financial constraint elsewhere saw cycleway funding stripped back to $1.85m for its whole 10 years — much of that “local share” for the cycle link from Kaiti to the city that was meant to be long-finished by now — with the Taruheru extension retained, planned for 2021-2024, costed at $7.2m, and totally reliant on external funding.
As the report on this project that councillors received last week stated, local share is “usually a rates component” — but not always, and this project which will undoubtedly qualify for 68 percent funding from Waka Kotahi/NZTA (with the only issue ensuring it is promoted well enough to be prioritised by them), is a sitter for Trust Tairawhiti's wellbeing agenda.
The local share will be $2.3m — less than the council allocated to this project in 2015.
