A plan to build a cycleway along the rail corridor linking the harbourside with the Dunedin Railway Station is one step closer to completion after KiwiRail indicated its support for the idea.
Acting Dunedin City Council group transport manager Richard Saunders said the idea being approved in principle by KiwiRail was good news and allowed the council to develop a more detailed design.
"Now we know that KiwiRail are amenable in principle to that route, [the next stage] involves looking at what that path might look like and what other impacts it might have on infrastructure in that area," Mr Saunders said.
That would include looking at how much the link, which would connect with the city end of the West Harbour shared pathway, might cost.
It was too early to say when the project would be signed off and when construction might begin.A KiwiRail spokesman said it had been in discussions with council over the link and supported it in principle after seeing a preliminary assessment.
Spokes Dunedin secretary Jon Dean welcomed the progress, saying the new facility would encourage cycling by providing a continuous route from the railway station to St Leonards.
"For cycling in general in Dunedin, it just means that great facility that already exists — the West Harbour path — will become considerably more accessible, not just to residents but also to tourists and people from out of town."
It would also put more pressure on the New Zealand Transport Agency to complete the pathway to Port Chalmers, which faced fresh funding challenges, he said.
"It would mean we would have an amazing facility from the Railway Station to St Leonards. They [NZTA] would really need to work hard to fulfil the vision to get the path all the way out to Port Chalmers," he said.
