Closing the gap on the Waikanae Township to Expressway shared path

The Park Avenue shared path is a gap in the primary walking and cycling route from Waikanae Township-to-Expressway connection. It’s one of two cycleway projects from the 2024-34 Long-term Plan to build.

The project involves building a 645-metre-long shared concrete path on the northern side of Park Avenue from near number 44 Park Ave to the Wrestling Club carpark driveway.

The section of Park Avenue to the south of this spot (from the intersection of Park Avenue with Te Moana Road to number 44) is an existing 1.5-metre-wide footpath which we plan to widen in the future.

All going well, construction will begin in February 2026 and will be finished around June 2026. Most of the work will occur on the berm, so construction will not have a big impact on Park Avenue traffic.

Benefits

As the last section of the Waikanae Township-to-Expressway connection to be sealed, the new section of shared path will make cycling safer and improve the environment for pedestrians, mobility scooter users, and people with push chairs.

Background

In 2021 residents shared their ideas with us on ways to make Park Avenue safer for cyclists.

Residents said traffic volumes and speeds were increasing, and some plants were too close to footpaths. Their suggestions to improve safety included creating a shared path on the north side of the street to separate cyclists from traffic, improving road crossings, and calming traffic.

We reviewed the comments and developed a plan which includes a section of new shared path, road crossing improvements, and traffic calming measures.

Removing vegetation to make space for the shared path

250 metres of hedge will be removed to make space for the shared path. As we build the path, we also might need to remove up to five of the macrocarpa trees if we can’t work around them. Some of the trees are in poor condition and might not cope with minor root disturbance. (For each tree we remove, we plant three native trees in appropriate locations.)

Complimentary works

The project includes five road crossing improvements along Park Avenue and the Croquet and Wrestling clubs’ driveways.

Traffic calming measures which align with our speed management plan will also be installed as part of this package of construction works.