Doughty said the best option to achieve this was to build a bridge over the Whangaehu River so walkers could walk all the way from the beach at Whanganui centre to the original turnoff into Santoft forest.
"This would reduce the distance people would walk on the road by 30km," he said.
In 2019 a similar bid to get the trail on the road less saw a change of on-road walking from 30km to the 18km- it is now.
On Friday Te Araroa Trail executive director Matt Claridge was in Whanganui to discuss the potential of this change with the Te Araroa Whanganui Trust.
Claridge said slightly more than 10 per cent of total Te Araroa required walking on the road.
"Parts of that is [fine], but the road between Whanganui and Bulls can be really tough on walkers."
He said the idea to change the trail involved having good relationships with the farms the trail would sometimes pass through, which was important for the Te Araroa trust.
He said behaviours of the walkers were also crucial for gaining access rights, which could make or break the relationships with the farmers.
The ability to build the bridge also depended on funding, which Claridge said was an important part of maintaining the walks.
This process could see the bridge completed and the track changed in the next three years.
"We need about $2 million a year to be able to continue developing assets such as bridges across the whole trail.
"Our bid of $300K didn't get through this year, but there's still potential for it next year."
Pre-covid Claridge said around 2000 people walked Te Araroa end-to-end, and the number of people unintentionally walking smaller parts of Te Araroa was estimated between 250,000 to 500,000.
He said he would like to see more people using the Te Araroa Trail App, which people can use to plan their walks within the Te Araroa trail.
"With better usage comes better data, so if the app tells us the Whanganui section is really popular, we need to make sure there are enough resources going to that area."
He said it was hard to say how many people walked Te Araroa last year, but they were expecting a big increase, with potentially as many as 3000 people walking the whole trail.
"There's a mix of people who intended to walk it over the last two summers, but haven't been able to travel, and those in New Zealand who have had the time over Covid to plan," Claridge said.
Two-thirds of people walking the Te Araroa Trail were from overseas and one-third were from New Zealand before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Claridge expected those numbers to return this year.
He said there was a focus on improving and promoting the trail as being accessible.
"You don't have to do it all at once, end to end. This is really important for raising awareness about walking in general, as well as the trails.
"If you're doing the walk in pieces, you're still walking the Te Araroa trail."
Claridge, who began his role as executive director in February, said he hadn't done any of the Whanganui trails yet but had walked parts of the National park and planned to walk sections of Whanganui in the future.
