Long-awaited Te Ara Tupua cycling and walking path to open to public

A $348 million walking and cycling path between Ngauranga and Petone will open to the public on Saturday. Transport Minister Chris Bishop said for people in Wellington and Lower Hutt, the opening of Te Ara Tupua was a long-awaited milestone. "Construction on this path began in 2022, following site investigations, community engagement, design and consenting that took place from 2013," he said. The project was jointly funded by the Crown: ($80m), National Land Transport Fund: ($261.7m), Wellington City Council ($5m), Greater Wellington Regional Council ($2m). Bishop said previously there was no safe walking and cycling route between Wellington and Lower Hutt. "The new shared path provides more ways for people to move around our region, with over 2100 trips on bikes, 360 walking or running trips, and around 290 trips on e-scooters or similar devices on the path each weekday expected by 2032 compared to approximately 450 daily trips estimated before the project got underway." He said the Te Ara Tupua project also protected State Highway 2 and the Hutt Valley rail network from the impacts of severe weather. "This new 4.5 kilometre-long, 5 metre-wide shared path is built on a foundation of extensive resilience works and coastal improvements. This includes 0.8 hectares of reclaimed land, 2.7 kilometres of sloping coastal defences, more than 6000 interlocking concrete blocks, and six vertical seawalls to strengthen the shoreline." Bishop said parts of the coastline had been damaged by severe weather in the past, most recently in 2013 when land under the rail line was washed out. "This resulted in millions of dollars in recovery work and days of travel disruption for commuters. "The new shared path will prevent this from happening and has already demonstrated how it protects critical infrastructure in recent wet weather." He said the new coastal path also provided an important lifeline connection for emergency services, should the highway ever be blocked after an earthquake or heavy rain.