Call to close reserve track to vehicles

David Drayton says more needs to be done to stop four-wheel drivers causing damage to Bowenvale...
David Drayton says more needs to be done to stop four-wheel drivers causing damage to Bowenvale Reserve at the top of Huntsbury Ave.
Pedestrians and cyclists using a popular track are being put in danger by motorists in four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Bowenvale Reserve track, which is at the top of Huntsbury Ave and leads to the Summit Rd, is being ripped up by the vehicles.

The Spreydon-Cashmere Community Board has asked for the track to be closed to vehicles permanently so it can be repaired and used by walkers and cyclists only.

Huntsbury Ave resident and Port Hills Trust Board treasurer David Drayton, who has been walking the track weekly for years, said although this idea sounds great, this may not stop four-wheel-drive vehicles from using the track.

“I don’t know how they’re going to stop it, he said.

“You can’t lock the road or shut it off, you’ve got to be accessible.”

However, Mr Drayton said four-wheel drives are “tearing up the road [track]” and putting walkers and cyclists off using it.

Said board member Lee Sampson: “I think this is the worst it [the track] has ever been in terms of condition.”

Mr Drayton said something needs to be done to at least deter vehicles from using the track and make it more useable for walkers and cyclists.

“You’ll never stop it, but if they could improve it or cut it down in some way that would be great, definitely.”

Board member Lee Sampson agreed something has to be done. He said last time he was walking on the track he had a near-miss with a four-wheel-drive.

“When I was leaving, a guy was literally just hooning up the hill ready to hit the trail, so he was in a four-wheel-drive, he was hooning up Huntsbury Ave, literally nearly wiping me out on a corner.”

Closing the track to vehicles would be the best way to keep its users safe and encourage more people to use the track, said Mr Sampson.

“It [Bowenvale Reserve] would be so well used because we’ve got so many limited safe options to get up to the Summit Rd and I think if we repaired it and spent a little bit of money on it, I think it would be really, really well used and it would be really embraced by the community and safer.”

A council spokesperson said it has received “several” complaints about four-wheel-drives using the track and was acting on these.

“All other areas of concern will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.”