Tawa Shared Pathway Starts to Take Shape
Monday 9 May 2011, 3:26PM
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The first two sections of the new shared pathway through Tawa for cyclists and pedestrians - totalling just under one kilometre - has been finished and is already proving popular.
Tawa residents are making use of a 400-metre widened section of path beside Duncan Street that links the Tawa Railway Station footbridge and Tawa College. Another 400-metre section of the path has been completed along Findlay Street, linking the Linden shops to Linden Park.
They are the first completed sections of the five kilometre, $3.5 million, shared pathway that will give cyclists and pedestrians a safe dedicated route through Tawa.
The next section for construction, expected to begin later in May and totalling about 650 metres, will be laid beside the railway line from Redwood station heading north to link with the Duncan Street pathway.
Detailed design is also under way for the next section between Duncan Street and Tawa Pool which includes a new level crossing across the railway line.
Councillor Bryan Pepperell, the Council's Walking, Cycling, Motorcycling and Safety Portfolio Leader, is pleased to see the path taking shape and being used. "It's encouraging to see people riding and walking on the path. After much planning the benefits are already being seen by walkers and cyclists".
The Tawa shared path is scheduled to be completed in stages over the next six years. The New Zealand Transport Agency last year agreed to fund 53% of the project with the Council funding the rest. Once completed the path will provide an 'off-road' route between Porirua in the north and Willowbank Park at the south end of Tawa.
Brett Gillies, Chairman of the Porirua Stream Walkway Committee, says: "Later in the year we will be organising a competition for primary schools in Tawa to name the path. Once we have a name we will put up signage and hopefully encourage more people to use it."