Cycleways

The Southland District Council will spend up to $7 million if it is given approval to build a 184km cycle track running from Nicholas Station to Kingston.

What might Dunedin's cycle network be like in 10 years' time? Hank Weiss, the Dunedin educational director of cycling advocacy group Spokes, looks ahead and imagines what an article in 2021 might say.

A proposal to build a network of strategic cycleways through Dunedin - costing up to $30 million - has won initial support from city councillors, and prompted a warning.

Cold water was poured on a proposal yesterday for a cycling and walking track between Cromwell and Clyde on the western bank of Lake Dunstan, that could link with the Otago Central Rail Trail.

Up to nine free car parks will be sacrificed on Anzac Ave for 650m of cycle lanes, providing the "missing link" in the Otago Harbour cycleway, Dunedin City Council roading projects engineer Evan Matheson announced yesterday.

Plans to extend the Otago Harbour cycleway to Port Chalmers by 2015 have been greeted with a mixture of delight and scepticism by the Chalmers Community Board.

Funding for the Otago Peninsula cycleway remains under a cloud, despite confirmation the New Zealand Transport Agency will contribute fully to the next stage of the $35.5 million project.

Future funding for the Otago Peninsula cycleway is up in the air, with New Zealand Transport Agency staff deciding today whether to continue full financial support for the latest step in the project.

Dunedin cyclists are growing increasingly impatient at the length of time it is taking to establish the cycle-walkway between Maia and Port Chalmers, and some believe the Government may be back-pedalling on the project.

An alternative route has been proposed for the Beaumont to Lawrence section of the Clutha Gold cycle trail and trust chairman Rod Peirce is confident it will proceed.

The pace will quicken from next month on the Alps 2 Ocean cycleway from Mt Cook to Oamaru, but already it is being marketed for tours.

Confirmation of the Roxburgh Gorge cycle trail is good news for the Teviot Valley, the chairman of the trust set up to administer the project says.

Cycle trails are the "least invasive form of tourism on the planet" Clutha Gold Trail Trust chairman Rod Peirce said as he signed an agreement for $2.54 million in funding for the project yesterday.

The Tuapeka River Gold Trail (TRGT) working party has made a late plea to the Clutha District Council for a compromise decision when it meets today to determine the fate of the Tuapeka Mouth pedestrian bridge.

A formal agreement which will secure $2.75 million in Government money for the Alps to Ocean cycleway has been approved by the Waitaki District Council.