Encouraging more walking and cycling in Dunedin

Waka Kotahi is delivering two separate multi-milliondollar shared path projects with huge potential to encourage more people to walk and cycle in Dunedin. Scheduled for completion in the next couple of years, the two shared paths on opposite sides of the Otago Harbour will provide great walking and cycling experiences that will motivate people to get out of their cars and onto their feet or bikes.

The centrepiece of the $31million SH88 Dunedin to Port Chalmers safety improvements project is the construction of the final 5km leg of a shared walking and cycling path between Dunedin and Port Chalmers. Scheduled to open in mid-2022, the path will offer a safe alternative for people walking and cycling to using State Highway 88, which is the busy main road freight route to Port Otago.

Directly across the harbour, work is progressing well on the final stages of the $63million 14km Otago Peninsula Connection, a Dunedin City Council project co-funded by Waka Kotahi. A 6m wide harbour reclamation includes a shared walking and cycling path, a new sea wall, and raises the road. This will provide protection from storm events and sea-level rise on the main road link between Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. Road shoulder widening has created the space for a 3m wide shared path.

Above: An unbeatable harbourside walk – a section of the new shared path between Dunedin and Macandrew Bay. Photo by: Dunedin City Council