|
Community supports Horopito-National Park link for cycleway
The cycleway from Mt Ruapehu to Wanganui should be completed by April this year, using a different route for part of the track from that originally proposed.
But there is “solid and widespread community support for completing the concept of the original route” in the medium term, says cycleway project representative Murray Wilson, referring to the link between Horopito and National Park Village.
A report to the Ngā Haerenga New Zealand Cycle Trail Fund, Ministry of Economic Development, updating the Stage Two funding, states that the link from Horopito to Middle Road, Ruatiti and the Mangapurua is the “best option for joining the Old Coach Road to the remainder of the Ruapehu-Whanganui Trails (RWT)”.
A proposed link from the Horopito end of the Ohakune Old Coach Road to National Park Village will take more time, states the report. There is not enough funding for the link trail at this stage and the exact route is not yet finalised and may take some time.
Instead, a link from Horopito to the Mangapurua Track will use Middle Road and Ruatiti Road.
A 900m stretch of track beside SH4 will run between the end of the Old Coach Rd at Horopito and the Middle Road turnoff.
From Middle Road, cyclists can ride along the Ruatiti Valley to link with the Mangapurua.
Track work
The report identifies:
• The work required to ensure that the remaining Stage 1 and 2 sections of the RWT meet a consistent grade and as broad a market as possible;
• That Stage 2 works can be completed by the end of the 2010 – 2011 financial year, which would mean that 190km of linked trail would be complete and open for use;
• Works being carried out to complete the link from Pipiriki through to Whanganui;
• That in the long term the community has a vision to link Horopito with National Park Village which the trail partners and the local community will continue to investigate further as a medium term project.
Works on Fisher Road (Fishers Track) were due to start last week on constructing the trail to a grade 2 cycle trail standard.
This will involve reshaping, drainage including regular culverts and hard surfacing where necessary but leaving as much of the existing grass cover in grazed sections.
The trail will remain open through the construction period but visitors are asked to take care as traffic and machinery will be using the trail.
Works are expected to be completed early April 2011.
A sign has been erected at the Tupapakurua Falls Track carpark.
The muddy sections on the Ohakune Old Coach Road have now been metalled.
Consents for bridges on the Central North Island Rail Trail have been issued and work is underway for the Mangatukutuku, Waikoura and Goat Stream bridges.
“These are quite large and will be spectacular,” says Murray Wilson.
Work has been proceeding since December on the Kaiwhakauka Valley on about eight bridges and track formation which will complete the link from Whakahoro to Mangapurua and some additional metalling will be done this summer.
Construction started on the Ruapehu-Whanganui Trails/Nga Ara Tuhono last summer, and Ruapehu cycle tourism operators are already feeling the benefit, DoC programme manager George Taylor says
The Mangapurua section, largely completed last summer, is getting up to 150 riders a weekend.
Fishers Road links National Park with the upper Retaruke Valley Road. From there riders can pedal to Whakahoro and the Kaiwhakauka.
The pathway also includes the Ohakune Mountain Road, the Old Coach Road and the Whanganui River Road, all of which can be riden now.
The Kaiwhakauka work costs $400,000, and another $80,000 for the upper Mangapurua.
Ruapehu Bulletin - 1 February 2011
|
