Trail construction presented challenges
CONSTRUCTION of the Lake Dunstan Trail took the combined engineering efforts of many operators.
Central Otago Queenstown Trail Network Trust chairman Stephen Jeffery said a number of contractors helped make the new 58km trail a reality.
Project management was undertaken by Southern Land development consultant Tim Dennis, of Wanaka.
Wilson & Keen Contracting, of Southland, worked on the trail from Smiths Way to Cornish Point, while M3 Contracting, of Timaru, worked on the trail from Cornish Point to the Clyde Rowing Club.
A third contractor, Cliff Care, of Wanaka, worked on rock scaling and clipon bridge work.
Abseil Access helped to build a suspension bridge, and fabrication of the fixed bridges was completed by Breen Construction, of Alexandra.
The trail included a number of challenges during construction.
Parts of the trail required some blasting and drilling and techniques like placing airbags that would expand to shatter rock was used, Mr Jeffery said.
Innovative methods were used to access some parts of the trail, including using a barge across Lake Dunstan at Champagne Gully.
This was used to ferry gravel and earthmoving equipment across the lake for a landlocked 3km stretch between Pickaxe Bluff and Reillys Bluff.
Helicopters were also utilised to help transport equipment to where it was needed.
The trail included eight bolton bluff bridges with a total length of 360m and one suspension bridge.
Negotiating access to land was also an important part of the process, as the trail crossed over land that was administered by Land Information New Zealand, Department of Conservation and Contact Energy as well as private landowners.