The Southern Lakes Trails Trust has yet to set an opening date for the 32km cycle trail, linking Bannockburn to the Gibbston Valley, but it is promising the trail will be open "towards the end of summer".
Trust chief executive Janeen Wood said the trail’s construction was a generational investment that would enable a "giant leap towards a unified regional trail network".
It would unlock a 530km continuous network across Queenstown and Central Otago that would extend to Waihola, about 40km southwest of Dunedin.
Trust chairman Aaron Halstead said three new suspension bridges — measuring 108m, 82m and 70m — would be constructed early in the new year, their sequencing designed to "discourage premature access into partially completed areas".
Safety barriers and signs would also be installed as part of the final phase of work.
Mr Halstead said since work on the trail started in January last year, the trust’s members had been "continually amazed" by the innovation and dedication of the construction crew.
The work had included building bridges across a major river without easy access, lifting diggers into locations by helicopter, building bluff bridges capable of carrying machinery, and building a trail around "one of the gnarliest highway bluffs in the region".
The trail had been shaped to sit naturally within the terrain, and featured stacked stone abutments that were being built in the style of the region’s early settlers.
Mr Halstead said cycle tourism had become one of the strongest drivers of New Zealand’s regional economy, trails around the country generating an estimated $1.2billion a year, and projected to soon reach $2b.
When the Lake Dunstan Trail opened in 2021, it was expected to get 7000 riders a year, but ended up attracting more than 80,000 in its first year.
"Early modelling suggests the Kawarau Gorge Trail could exceed these numbers due to its dramatic landscapes, back-country appeal and proximity to Queenstown."
