New promenade connects the city
Grey skies did not put off hundreds of hardy Cantabrians celebrating the opening of the new promenade along the Avon River yesterday morning.
The 2-kilometre shared path, built by Crown rebuild company O¯ ta¯ karo over five years as part of the $120 million Avon River precinct, runs alongside Oxford Tce from the hospital to Margaret Mahy Playground in central Christchurch.
Tessa Grigg and Drew Hartstone took their dogs for a walk along the length of the promenade before the opening event.
Grigg said the ‘‘fantastic’’ promenade had been done well: ‘‘I know it’s taken a long time but, now that I can see it, it’s worth the wait.’’
Hartstone said he did not come into the central city very often, despite living in Christchurch, but this would help bring him back in.
‘‘It’s been discouraging since the earthquakes to see it’s destroyed the place, but now I’m starting to get encouraged because I can see some nice stuff coming in, and we’ve been missing that nice stuff for a long time.
‘‘We know it costs but there’s other cities all around the world that have got beautiful stuff like this, too. Why can’t we have it?’’
Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods said the opening was a ‘‘significant day for Christchurch’’.
It was another fence coming down and another part of the city opening up to people again, she said.
‘‘This isn’t just about buildings, this is about bringing people back into the city, it’s about connecting the city back up again.’’
O¯ ta¯karo chief executive John Bridgman said it was a great addition to the city. ‘‘Even in the last couple of days, since we’ve taken the fences down, we’ve seen a lot more people out at lunchtime just enjoying the park and the path.’’
The opening event included a scavenger hunt offering $10,000 worth of prizes. Musical entertainment, food trucks, face painting, spot prizes and eel feeding were also set up along the route.
The 3.2km Avon River precinct was the first of the city’s anchor rebuild projects to get under way, with work starting near the Antigua St boatsheds in 2013. It was originally hoped it would be finished by late 2014.
As well as the paved promenade, the precinct includes new trees and native plantings, lighting, seats and artworks.