The closure of Queenstown’s Frankton Track for virtually all of next year, to lay a new wastewater pipeline, is being greeted with disbelief by many people.
However, the council is adamant the closure is needed because the working environment for machinery and crew is too narrow to allow any public access, though an exception is being made for marathon weekend.
A spokesperson noted the job, for vitally-needed infrastructure, is also taking six months less than first anticipated.
Although businesses and residents in the vicinity were seemingly only formally advised last week, six weeks out from work starting, the spokesperson says they first released info in late July with more regular updates from early October.
The Rees Hotel GM Micka McDonald said the length of the closure was ‘‘laughable’’.
The hotel not only promotes its access to the track and the scenic walk guests can take to the CBD, but it uses its jetty for many activities, including incoming conference groups, while many guests also arrive from the airport by mountainbike.
She believed if guests could not walk to town along the lakefront they might take a vehicle instead - ‘‘that’s more cars on the road’’.
The council spokesperson said they would look at potentially accommodating the needs of different premises ‘‘and how we may be able to provide safe access to something like a jetty’’.
Many lakefront complexes have Airbnb units which promote their access to the track - ‘‘it’s a major advertising feature’’, local Kelly Carmichael, who owns an apartment halfway along the track, said.
‘‘The track is one of the main reasons I bought my apartment where I did.
‘‘Being able to walk to work [in the CBD] is one of the loveliest things about my time in Queenstown, it’s a real drawcard.’’
She said she saw about 15 others on the track every time she was on it, be they cycling commuters, runners, dog walkers or people with prams - ‘‘it’s heavily used, and that’s what makes it safe as well’’.
‘‘I mean, what other major thoroughfare would they close for an entire year, especially when they’re trying to encourage active transport?’’
Travel advocacy group The Lightfoot Initiative founder Amanda Robinson said the closure was ‘‘definitely a loss for the community’’.
She has advocated to NZ Transport Agency, which manages Frankton Rd, a strip of bollards on the northern side ‘‘to reinforce that cycle lane so people travelling from Queenstown to Frankton have some separation from the traffic’’.
She has also suggested some remedial work on the lakeside footpath and believed there would be merit in lowering the speed limit from 70kmh to 50kmh for cyclists/walkers to feel more confident.
Meanwhile the council confirmed the track would open for next year’s Queenstown Marathon, then close again until early December.
