Queenstown’s council has pulled the pin on one of the resort’s planned active travel networks.
Dubbed the ‘A8’, the commuter trail was proposed to link Widgeon Place, at Lake Hayes Estate, to the southern side of the Kawarau River, via a new bridge.
From there it was planned to initially link to the ‘A7’ route, which was planned to join Jack’s Point and Remarkables Park, via a new pedestrian and cycling bridge.
In time, the Queenstown Trails Trust had plans to extend it west, to Chard Farm, where it would join the Queenstown Trails network via a planned underpass at Gibbston.
However, last week, Mountain Scene revealed NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) still had the ‘A7’ on paper.
That’s in part to do with poor ground conditions at the proposed bridge site, resulting in more investigations as to the new ‘‘preferred route’’.
Queenstown council’s property and infrastructure GM Tony Avery says following NZTA’s decision not to proceed with some aspects of the active travel network, council is ‘‘focusing its investment on behalf of ratepayers on trails that will create lasting connections within the network currently confirmed’’.
‘‘As a result, we recently agreed not to proceed with the proposed A8 route at the present time.’’
