Fulton Hogan contractors working for the Dunedin City Council have started reclamation work in the bay at Vauxhall to widen Portobello Rd for a new shared pathway and other roading improvements.
The work would result in between 5m and 10m of the bay being filled in along a 600m stretch between the yacht club and Doon St, and was expected to be completed by the end of June, council projects engineer Evan Matheson said.
Ecological reports carried out as part of cycleway planning work had found marine life in the area was relatively common and "relocatable", he said.
That meant the environmental impact of the work would be "minor", he said.
The Vauxhall to Doon St section was being widened at a cost of $1 million, with the New Zealand Transport Agency contributing 62% of the cost and the council the remainder.
The work included the construction of a new sea wall, a reshaped road, bus stop and turning bay into Doon St, as well as a shared path and separate cycleway, Mr Matheson said.
It was part of the wider $35.5 million Otago Peninsula cycleway project, which aimed to construct a shared pathway from the city to Taiaroa Head by 2023.
Further along the road, Downer EDI works contractors had resumed work on a $2.6 million, 1.4km stretch of the road between Macandrew Bay and Rosehill Rd.
The work had been delayed since Christmas while the council sought a change to consent conditions to allow extra reclamation outside the Glenfalloch Gardens, Mr Matheson said.
The extra reclamation would allow more space for turning vehicles and parking outside Glenfalloch, he said.
The additional work would cost an extra $200,000, paid for by the Otago Peninsula Trust which ran the garden, he said.
That section was expected to be completed by the end of next month.
Council and transport agency staff also met last week to discuss possible changes to the order of the remaining 11 stages of the cycleway work, Mr Matheson confirmed.
Council staff have previously said one option was to resume building the project from the city outwards, but Mr Matheson said it was "far too early" to speculate.
