Good progress made on Kopu to Kaiaua cycleway extension

Track construction has been continuing on the Kopu to Kaiaua extension of the Hauraki Rail Trail since the work began in April.

The cycleway will run mostly along the tops of stopbanks along the south bank of the Firth of Thames past one of the most important coastal areas for shorebirds in New Zealand.

The work is expected to be finished around the end of the year, in time for the summer tourist season, but much of the work is weather dependent.

The Kopu to Kaiaua (K2K) extension is a joint project of our Council and Hauraki District Council (HDC), the lead partner.

Each Council is contributing $1 million to the project.

"We've been looking forward to seeing this extension built since the original Hauraki Rail Trail opened in 2012. This will now truly make the rail trail a multiday experience and allow people to cycle all the way from Auckland to the Coromandel without having to cycle next to traffic on State Highway 25," says Mayor Glenn Leach.

Auckland to Thames - by bike

Much progress was made on the track between Kopu and Pipiroa in April while the sun was shining but work on that section stopped in mid-May when the rains set in. Work will continue when a window of improved weather opens.

We're asking that cyclists, duck hunters and others stay off the partially completed sections until they are finished to avoid damaging the work that has been done.

Work is continuing on the section near Front Miranda Road to Miranda Hot Springs and is expected to be completed in the next few days.

The section north of Miranda Hot Springs along the stopbank to the East Coast Road bridge has now been completed.

The contract for four bridges and one boardwalk was awarded in April to Walkway Solutions. Two bridges on the Coxhead stopbank north of Miranda should be finished by the end of July and two other bridges on Front Miranda Road and a small boardwalk at Waitakaruru should be finished in September.

Designs for the cycleway clip-on attachment to SH25's Piako River bridge are currently being reviewed with NZ Transport Agency and that job will be put out to tender soon.

The existing funding our Council and HDC are contributing is not enough to bring the cycleway all the way to Kaiaua, so cyclists will ride the stretch from Pukorokoro-Miranda Bridge (just south of the Robert Findlay Wildlife Reserve) to Kaiaua on East Coast Road (which sees little traffic) unless external funding is found to build this section.

HDC is preparing an application for some of the $25 million funding that the central government announced in May was being made available for cycle trail projects.

In the meantime, Auckland is investigating building its own cycleway to Kaiaua that would complete the link to the Coromandel for cyclists from the big city.

For more information on the K2K, go to our project web page: www.tcdc.govt.nz/hrt

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