Orakei walk and cycleway officially opened

A Short Cut to Meadowbank – with Water Views

The Orakei Basin boardwalk providing a walking and cycling track running alongside the existing rail corridor was officially opened to the public by the Mayor on Monday 13th December, the first stage in a project almost ten years in the making.

Long-time walkway campaigner and Orakei Local Board Chair Desley Simpson said at the opening

“We have waited a long time for this day and are thankful to the former members of the Hobson and East and Bays Community Board’s for their tireless efforts in progressing this project over the past three years in particular,”

“I have been involved in this project for many years and I am looking forward to extending our vision for a cycle and walkway across Hobson Bay creating a link to downtown Auckland from the eastern suburbs”.

The new shared pathway provides cyclists with an attractive and safe connection from Ngapipi Road across to Meadowbank. In future, it would be great to see the new cycle path link up with Tamaki Drive, providing cyclists a safe route all the way to the city, plus an opportunity to integrate cycling and walking with rail transport.  In the short term the Orakei Local Board will need to push hard to ensure a  pedestrian crossing is installed quickly on Orakei Road where the boardwalk exits to provide for safe access to Orakei Station.

Let’s hope there is also some investigation into opening up to cycling the historic and beautiful green route running up from Orakei to St Johns and down into Glen Innes, which would provide a wonderful connection between the city and the eastern suburbs.

The new boardwalk has been an Auckland City Parks project as part of the Orakei Basin improvement plan, aiming to revitalise the basin by improving environmental conditions, managing tidal flows and providing better public access. The Orakei Basin development will eventually include the completion of a walkway around the basin, although this won’t be open to cyclists.

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