More delays for frustrated riverside walkway users
Walkway users frustrated by persistent closures to the city’s riverside network will have to wait longer yet to again tread a central city section closed since December.
City council staff are still waiting for more technical information and a report from engineers Tonkin and Taylor, which they expected to have within three weeks.
The walkway network on the western bank of the Waikato River between London St and the Claudelands Bridge and adjacent parts of the popular route have suffered a series of slips in recent years, prompting a string of closures and remedial works.
Runner John Otham, who used the track when it was open, was frustrated that parts of it seemed to have been closed for four of the last five years since it had been built.
He said he regularly saw people jumping barriers to run or even cycle along the closed portion of the track, and he couldn’t understand why council appeared to be pouring so much effort into walkways near the Pukete bridge which required difficult helicopter work to construct, yet a walkway in the centre of town appeared to be too hard to fix.
‘‘It’s the middle of town and the shop window of Hamilton. We have got hotels above it and a tourist comes along and can’t even walk down there,’’ Mr Otham said.
City general manager community Lance Vervoort said staff would be better placed to discuss time frames, costs and any repairs once the geotechnical report was done.
In the meantime, in the interests of public safety, that stretch would remain closed.
In December the ground above the slip was assessed as unstable, forcing the closure. A smaller slip occurred at the same time, south of Skycity Casino after heavy rain.