A pre-European walkway that has seen no accidents since the railway was built across it in 1927, is being closed for safety reasons.

The walkway remnant is now an informal railway crossing between Seaway Terrace and Ngatai Road in Tauranga.

The informal crossing. Picture: Tauranga City Council.

The council notice states the walkway is to be closed because of the increasing number and length of the trains, and claims KiwiRail and the city council have concluded the poor visibility of oncoming trains in that area, coupled with the informal nature of the rail crossing, presents an unacceptable safety risk.

The Tauranga City Council last tried to close the walkway in 2013 and encountered strong local opposition. The new initiative is being led by KiwiRail, says TCC communications manager Aimee Driscoll.

Seaway Terrace resident Doreen Anderson launched a petition arguing the walkway was a necessary tsunami escape route and for the walkway's history.

Before the railway crossed it, it was a well-travelled pathway for Otumoetai Pa residents who used it for beach access and as the route to the original Faulkner's trading post.

It's also a crucial tsunami escape route for people living on Beach Road and Seaway Terrace.

'It's our only exit in the event of an earthquake or tsunami, because we have no other way to get out,” says Doreen.

'The only other exit point is at Levers Road, and there will be the whole of Matua using that in that event. For us it is a very vital exit point. It's our only exit point apart from the Levers Road exit point.”

The council of the day agreed and no further action was taken.

Contacted about the council's intention to fence off the crossing on April 13, Doreen says they are in the process of preparing a response, and have arranged to speak at the next city council meeting – on April 13, the same day the fences are to be going up.

The council notice says a survey shows a very low number of people use the crossing – an average of nine people a day over a three-week period. Safer options to get between the two roads are available via an overbridge at Otumoetai Road and a protected crossing at Bureta Road.

Doreen's re-organising the opposition.

'I've taken in my letter to the council and there's a copy of the flyer as well that they sent to us yesterday.

'We've been to the council booked the next council meeting which is on the 13th. We've seen no evidence of the survey that they said they took. So we would like to see a copy of that risk assessment.

'We're having a meeting at my place on Monday and we are going to work out where we go from there. It's quite important for us. It's been open forever, from before we were even here and no one's been run over since the trains have been running.”