A new development to the main beach board walk at Mount Maunganui hopes to increase access for more users of the popular track.
The development has seen a new section attached to the board walk to allow better access over the grass for people in wheelchairs or with prams.
Tauranga City Councillor Leanne Brown has been a strong force behind the development and says she noticed the need for the development last April.
'When I was walking around the mount from April last year I realized we didn't have enough connectivity from the pedestrian crossing to up over to the board walk.”
'I asked staff if we could include it into the minor works programme and at that point in time the budget was already spent.”
Since this time Council has completed work around the base of Mauao, on Adams Ave and on the Marine Parade corner to connect the area up and make it flatter and more accessible.
'They've flattened the speed bumps, widened the footpath and improved the walk from Pilot Bay through to the beach,” says Leanne.
The development to the boardwalk was completed last week.
'Mark Smith, the parks and recreation manager sent photos through to me and said ‘thought you'd be delighted to see these' and I was.”
'We're trying to be more accommodating for more people across the city,” says Leanne.
'20 per cent of people around the city have got a disability of some sort, if we can make their life easier then we're on a really good track.”
3 comments
Laughable
Posted on 12-09-2017 19:50 | By Capt_Kaveman
worried about a bit of boardwalk but stuff fixing the crap roading system
I get the intent but..
Posted on 13-09-2017 07:59 | By Border Patrol
..I watched this work over a few weeks. They haven't mentioned in the article that they removed a heap of car parks from outside the cafes so getting a park will be even harder. The removal of the speed humps is a concern as because of the size of them at least cars had to slow down. There is so much distraction around that area for drivers that I hope it doesn't make it more dangerous for pedestrians. I think the cafes will be the ones benefitting from the widening of the footpath as it will give them more room for tables to spread out. The new boardwalk sections on the ocean side do work well though.
Carpark removal
Posted on 13-09-2017 09:36 | By jed
Council have removed a lot of carparking in this development and in past ones. I phoned council to complain and the person responsible able told me they did a public survey and every single person was happy about the removal of carparks... Not one opposed.and apparently you the road was dangerous by the twin towers so these changes had to be done. Must have been a lot of car accidents huh, I cannot remember any myself and 100% support is something even Zimbabwe's Mugabe could not achieve. This council is arrogant beyond measure.
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