Concept plans are being designed in a bid to make a Mosgiel footpath safer for pedestrians.
Dunedin City Council transportation safety team leader Hjarne Poulsen said the council had started designing plans for a ‘‘formalised’’ footpath on the residential side of Gladstone Rd North.
The proposed work, including kerbing and channelling, would stretch from near McFadden Dr to the overbridge across the railway track, he said.
The plan would be given to people living in and near Gladstone Rd North for feedback.
The community consultation would probably start next month, he said.
The project was created because motorists often parked on an informal footpath along the road, resulting in pedestrians having to weave around vehicles.
The footpath had nothing to stop motorists parking on it, he said. Some of it was gravel, so it was impossible to paint yellow lines to stopthem.
A challenge for the project was that property boundaries along the road started at different distances from the road, he said.
After the community was consulted, more design work would be needed and then a project cost could be calculated.
A finish date for the project was unknown.
‘‘If it’s three years or five years, we can’t really tell . . .it depends on the feedback we get.’’
The plans would include space for car parking, he said.
He hoped the consultation would reveal how much of the footpath space was being used to park vehicles.
The project would not include the side of the road near the railway line, which would be left alone so it could be available for any shared path or cycleway project in the future.
Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board chairwoman Sarah Nitis said the footpath proposal was ‘‘fantastic’’, as the project had been on the ‘‘board’s radar for a couple of years’’.
The board wanted more pupils to be walking and cycling to school, she said.
Pedestrians in Gladstone Rd North often had to walk on the road to get past a vehicle parked on the footpath, she said.
‘‘It’s not a safe footpath at the moment.’’
