Construction of a new bridge across Stoney Creek near the Wānaka Watersports Facility began earlier this week (March 11) as part of a project to improve the Wānaka to Glendhu Bay track.

The project also includes two new sections of track. 

The current unformed track beside the Watersports Facility cuts through the Stoney Creek reserve car park to connect to the existing wooden footbridge, which will be removed when the new bridge is completed. 

The new bridge and associated gravel track is located closer to the lakeside to provide a safer route, separating track users from the car parking activity. 

The plan indicates the location of the two new tracks and the new bridge. IMAGE: Supplied

A second new track connects directly with the existing asphalt footpath beside Mt Aspiring Road and will follow the western edge of Stoney Creek to provide access to the foreshore without having to go through the car park.

Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board chair Simon Telfer said the bridge and connecting lakefront trail will cater for recreational cyclists, visitors and sightseers “because everyone wants to bike beside the lake, not beside the road”.

“The new bridge is needed because of the continual conflict on the existing narrow one given [the] volume of walkers, bikers and Wānaka Tree sightseers. It also spits people out into the centre of a busy car park,” Simon said.

The second new path alongside the creek formalises access to the Roys Bay lakefront track for people coming from Wānaka’s west side, such as Meadowstone, he said.

“If we don't provide that pathway then people…coming from that side of town have to access the lakefront pathway by biking through the area where all the cars are parking and reversing and where it gets very congested. 

The new bridge will be located closer to the lake than the existing wooden bridge. PHOTO: Wānaka App

“This is a simple and pragmatic gravel path to get them on to the lakefront track in a safe and easy manner,” Simon said.

When asked why the existing asphalt path beside Mt Aspiring Road wasn’t expanded to match the paths from Wānaka’s CBD to the Mt Aspiring Road car park rather than constructing a new path, Simon said the two paths had different purposes.

The lakefront one is for recreational users, visitors and tourism sightseeing.

“The main, wide lakefront path that weaves through the trees has a completely different function than this narrower side access path,” he said. “The asphalt path tends to be used by locals [commuting], trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible.”

And, as more than half of the project’s $700K budget was being funded by a $432,000 grant from the Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), the project needed to meet tourism expectations, he said.

The contractors, Cromwell-based earthmoving company M3 Contracting Ltd, will be working in stages. Their work will be confined behind barriers allowing the Stoney Creek car park to remain open and access for walking/cycling to continue, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) said in a Facebook post.

The work is expected to be completed by early June 2024.