Community trust seeking support for shared pathway

A City to Sea Rail Trail from the edge of Palmerston North to Himatangi Beach is estimated to cost $7 million.

That sum is just for the tarsealed pathway following the former railway line, and does not include projects to overcome major obstacles.

Bainesse and Districts Community Development Trust presented the estimates for the 31-kilometre pathway to the city council and Manawatu District Council joint strategic planning meeting on Wednesday.

Trustee Alisa Halford said the first hurdle would be getting the pathway started, at the Longburn Railway overbridge. She said the route would be unlikely to be able to use the road bridge, and alternatives had to be developed and priced.

At the far end of the trail, there would have to be cycle and pedestrian facilities to allow users to safely cross State Highway 1. And in between, crossing Burkes Drain and the Oroua River posed their own challenges.

All of the obstacles were likely to be major and costly. But Halford said the costs were only half of the equation.

The trust’s next piece of work was through economists Infometrics, developing details of the likely benefits the trail would bring to the region. She said the work was most likely to be staged over several years. The costs of each section are $2.1m from Longburn to Rangiotu, $2.2m to the Pyke Rd intersection, $1.7m to SH1, and $1m to the beach.

City councillor Susan Baty said she was concerned about signalling support for the project because the cost of the bridges or other crossings was not known. ‘‘Seven-million-dollars is for a basic pathway and it is going to cost considerably more than that to complete. We do not have the full story.’’

The trustees said once they had a business case finished, they would be trying to raise the money.

The two councils could help if they included the project in their 10-year plans, which were being reviewed next year.

Manawatu District Council’s help would be needed in negotiating with the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Meantime, at the other end of Palmerston North, both councils are working to develop plans for a shared pathway linking Palmerston North, through Bunnythorpe, to Feilding.