Rocks, mud and other debris yesterday covered parts of the
Otago Peninsula cycleway for the second time in two months.
Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Parts of the Otago Peninsula cycleway and walkway in
Dunedin are again in need of repairs following storm damage,
just weeks after being patched up following a similar
battering.
The damage was caused by Tuesday's combination of low
barometric pressure, high tides and strong southwesterly
wind, which drove waves over the Portobello Rd seawall.
The Otago Daily Times visited yesterday and found
rock, mud, bits of wood and plantings blasted across the
shared pathway for cyclists and pedestrians, concealing it in
places.
The damage, which meant pedestrians and cyclists were forced
on to the road, was worst near Macandrew Bay, and appeared
more serious than the last time gales lashed the area on May
12.
On that occasion, strong winds were enough to drive waves
over the seawall, also stripping plantings and backfill from
behind the seawall and lofting debris across the cycleway.
Council road maintenance engineer Peter Standring said damage
on Tuesday was from a different sort of weather event than in
May, but the area's exposure meant "we're always going to get
things happening".
"When you get all those things happening at the same time,
you're going to get a bad result."
Maintenance contractors prioritised work to ensure the road
was passable for vehicles, meaning work on the pathway could
be "knocked down the rankings a bit", he said.
It was hoped work on the pathway would begin late yesterday,
and continue into the evening, but it could take several days
before the work was completed, he said.
Repairs were expected to cost "tens of thousands" of dollars
and be paid for by the council, as the damage was outside
normal maintenance, he said.
In the long-term, placing extra objects in the water to
disperse the power of waves before they struck the seawall
was "certainly one of the things being looked at", he said.
"We need to balance it up against funding and the actual
likelihood of it happening."
The idea was first mentioned by council projects engineer
Evan Matheson following May's storm damage, and was to be
given more consideration over the next six months.
- chris.morris@odt.co.nz
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