Pupils at a school in Oamaru regularly have to cycle to school through knee-deep floodwater and even though one boy has already fallen into the water, safety concerns over alternative routes mean children must continue to risk a soaking until the problem is fixed.
For the past 15 years, cyclists and pedestrians attending Waitaki Boys' High School (WBHS) have used a bike track which runs from the end of Waitaki Ave to the school bike sheds, but a section of the track bordering the school boundary and the SouthRoads work yard, near Regina Lane, floods during heavy rain.
WBHS director of compliance and property Ken McCallum said the problem had ''come to a head'' this winter, but boys would still be urged to use the cycle trail because the only alternative routes would be to use Waitaki Ave or walk close to the rail line.
''Basically... because we have to follow good road safety practice and not have boys walking out with vehicles travelling behind them, plus the buses, we won't use Waitaki Ave on a health and safety reason.
''We don't want pupils using Waitaki Ave at a time when we have a large number of vehicle movements.
''Obviously the cycleway is well used by boys heading south and also walking, but when there is a build-up of water it gets up to knee-deep and, in fact, I have a report of one boy being submerged, so boys obviously walk along the railway line itself, which is another health and safety issue that shouldn't be happening.''
In safety terms, the bike track was still ''the lesser of the three evils'', he said.
He said the school was keen to resolve the issue quickly and was working with KiwiRail to identify the cause of the problem and to find out who had responsibility for the land.
''We have spoken to the council and the council said it is not their problem and referred it to the railways. The railway engineer came in on Thursday and spent a considerable amount of time to photograph it and check it out.
''So at the moment the situation is that the railways are trying to work out who actually owns the section of land the cycleway is on, whether it is part of the railway corridor or if it is council land, so that we know who we can talk to to deal with it.''
