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The Rodney Local Board has secured funding and permission for the construction of 70-metre long suspension bridge to link Kowhai Park to Warkworth Showgrounds.
The bridge will traverse a steep gully and be designed for pedestrians and cyclists.
Board chair Beth Houlbrooke says the suspension bridge is part of the Rodney Local Board “big picture” planning for the area, designed to enhance possibilities for walking and cycling and other forms of active and passive recreation.
Map showing the bridge connecting Heritage Lane with Warkworth Showgrounds.
“The whole piece of land from the Showgrounds back to Kowhai Park, which is all Council owned, needs to be combined in such a way that it makes a really nice community asset,” she says.
“People will be able to wander all the way through there on a beautiful suspension bridge overlooking native bush.”
The suspension bridge will also allow people to walk from the former Atlas Concrete site, off State Highway 1, through to Warkworth town centre, via Kowhai Park. The Atlas site has been earmarked by the Board for development as a Park and Ride facility.
In addition, the bridge will connect with Heritage Lane, via a concrete path.
The push for a suspension bridge follows Board moves to develop Warkworth Showgrounds in partnership with the Mahurangi Sport and Recreation Collective and the enhancement of Kowhai Park, through development of its tracks, beautifying its entrance and installing new toilets.
The Board considered a track through the gully instead of a bridge, but Ms Houlbrooke says the track option, although cheaper, would have made it trickier to secure a resource consent and would have involved the use of steep flights of steps, making it less attractive to users.
She adds that ongoing maintenance costs for a track would have been higher.
The suspension bridge got the green light following the consent of landowners, the approval of the QE II National Trust and the securing of cash from Council development contributions.
Development contributions, sometimes known as Growth Funds, are fees paid by developers when applying for a resource consent. They are used to fund community infrastructure.
The public will have the opportunity to give feedback on the bridge sometime over summer.
It is scheduled for construction in the 2019/2020 financial year.
