Cyclists and pedestrians on the Ōmokoroa – Tauranga cycleway are being warned to expect occasional delays where the trail meets Jess Road at Te Puna this week.

A Powerco project to replace all of the old power poles in Te Puna estuary – between Emeny Road and Armstrong Road begins on Tuesday, February 8 and will continue on differing days up until May.

To carry out the repairs, contractors will be loading equipment onto a barge beside the railway and cycleway bridges on the Jess Road side.

The cycleway/ walkway will be blocked for periods of up to 30 minutes while barge loading takes place.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council's Reserves and Facilities Projects and Assets manager, Scott Parker says the trail needs to be closed for those periods as there's not enough room to allow for cyclists or pedestrians to safely pass by the truck and barge loading operation.

'Cyclists and pedestrians need to wait for the loading to finish and the trail to re-open, unfortunately, there is no safe way to bypass the work,” he explains.

'There will be signage and traffic management in place during the half-hour loading operations, and we've been assured that there won't be more than one of these temporary closures each day.”

The work will be taking place intermittently from now until May, and only when high tide conditions permit.

Closures are expected to take place between 8-10am on the following dates

• February 8, 10, 14, 21, 23, 28
• March 3,14, 15,16, 17, 25, 28
• April 14, 19, 20 21, 22
• May 2, 3

Council thanks cycleway/walkway users for their patience and for keeping behind the safety barriers while the track is closed.