The job goes out to tender this month, with work due to start by January
The last gaps in the walking paths along Chapel Road are expected to soon be filled.
Auckland Transport will build a 3-metre shared path down the western side, between Ormiston Road and the Sancta Maria campus entrance, where there is currently no path on either side of the road.
Boardwalks will lead to a new 14-metre bridge over the portion of the Otara Stream that runs under Chapel Road.
The work is taking place after local residents asked the Board to improve safety for children walking to school, and for anyone heading to Barry Curtis Park or the bus stops on Ormiston Road.
“For years, we’ve heard concerns from the public about the lack of safe walking or cycling path along Chapel Road,” said Howick Local Board member Damian Light when the design was published.
“We’ve been working with Auckland Transport to identify potential solutions and I’m pleased that we now have a proposal.”
Footpaths in the developing parts of Flat Bush “are missing entirely, forcing people to walk on the grass or road which is obviously unsafe”, said Light.
The Board voted to support construction in June.
Auckland Transport confirmed to the Howick & Eastern Post that funding is in place and the detailed design is finished.
It is finalising the tender pack and expects to put the job out to contractors by the middle of next week.
An Auckland Transport spokesperson said work would begin when a contractor is appointed, which it expects around December or January.
The Board installed a temporary gravel path two years ago, but it was only a stop-gap.
Progress on improvements to this stretch of the road has been slow because it is set aside for a future widening and realignment that would put footpaths and cycleways on both sides.
That is a major capital project with no funding allocated in the regional transport programme, so the path is an interim fix until it happens.
The stream and ground stability have presented complications.
A landslip extends across the road, from St Paul’s Church on the eastern side to St Luke’s on the western, and Auckland Transport told the Board the instability means repairs are needed as often as every six months.
In a one-in-100-year flood the modelled water level sits more than 2 metres above the existing road bridge, so the new footbridge has to be built above that level.
That ruled out a cheaper walkway clipped to the side of the road bridge, which in that flood would go under with it.
Auckland Transport expects the path to be open by July 2027, and the work to cost about $1.3 million.
