Scenic highway could boost Woodville
Woodville residents are hoping a new highway will bring more people to the town than the Manawatu¯ Gorge route did before it closed.
Businesses in the town have battled against declining revenue since State Highway 3 through the gorge closed in April last year. The replacement highway is not scheduled to open until 2024, but proactive measures such as the Mad Hatters Fair were designed to draw people to the town in the meantime.
Woodville resident Alan Brabender said the new road would make a beautiful and scenic tourist route.
‘‘It’s going to be a quite a road . . . You’ll get an absolutely lovely view of Ashhurst, straight down the Pohangina Valley with Ruapehu in the background from that [new] bridge at the start of it, in particular.’’
Brabender said just being reconnected with a proper highway would be good for the town. But with the new route running through the Te A¯ piti wind farm, it could link Woodville into a tourism circuit, and bring more people through town than before the gorge road closure, he said.
The road through the gorge was closed indefinitely when officials deemed the hillside was too unstable after a series of slips.
Although viewing platforms and scenic stops were included in plans for the new route, Brabender was disappointed they didn’t take cyclists into consideration. Adding a cycle track, and maybe a walkway, would make the road more of a drawcard for tourists, he said.
New Zealand Transport Agency project manager Lonnie Dalzell said provision of safe and appropriate walking and cycling facilities along the new route would be considered as part of the future design process, and the agency was investigating how such facilities could be incorporated on the State Highway 3 Ashhurst bridge.
Designs will start being finalised in February, once the short-list of potential contractors has been whittled down to two. There will be public consultation on the design in mid-2019.
Feilding residents will get a chance to look over the plans next, when an information roadshow moves to the Feilding Civic Centre on Tuesday.
The transport agency will set up at the Pahı¯atua Town Hall the next day, and then move to Ashhurst Village Valley Hall on Thursday.