Railway Reserve disrupted

Cyclists and walkers who use the Railway Reserve will be redirected from their usual route while a pedestrian tunnel is built under the new road.

Nelson City Council’s infrastructure committee heard on Thursday that the construction of Princes Drive had reached the stage where work on the underpass was about to begin.

NCC team leader in capital delivery Rebecca Dawkins said cyclists could expect to be diverted around the work site starting ‘‘next week’’.

‘‘[Work on] the underpass is well under way, and you’ll have seen plenty of work happening there as part of the Coastal Views development,’’ she said.

‘‘There’s already a facility for the cyclists to be removed from the main traffic lane, inside the water filled barriers, that will become the main route for cyclists heading north and south while the underpass dig-out is commenced.’’

The diversion will take cyclists around the edge of the work site onto Waimea Rd inside the protective barriers already erected.

Dawkins said the work on the underpass would ‘‘probably take the next three or four moths’’.

The council was spending $519,000 on the underpass to maintain the Railway Reserve for pedestrians and cyclists.

Mayor Rachel Reese clarified in the meeting that despite advice from council transport manager Marg Parfitt in the November infrastructure committee meeting that the council was paying for the underpass because ‘‘the original consent to the subdivision’’ did not have the road crossing the Railway Reserve, this alternate route was only proposed and never consented.

‘‘There was an indication this particular matter was originally consented to connect to Beatson Rd, that is not the case ... There has only ever been a consent to connect at this point and variations made around it,’’ Reese said.