The Thames-Coromandel District Council has conditionally approved a grant of $1 million toward the Kopu to Kaiaua leg of the Hauraki Rail Trail cycleway.

This leg of the trail will not only deliver a unique additional stage to the Hauraki Rail Trail, but it will also provide a safer link for people cycling from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula.

The route of the Kopu to Kaiaua extension of the Hauraki Rail Trail. Construction of the route could begin as early as next year. Image: TCDC

Council says the $1m will be used for to construct the cycleway from the Kopu Bridge, along the stop banks around the Firth of Thames and up past the Miranda Shorebird Centre to the Miranda Bridge.

'The grant was conditionally approved subject to execution of the grant funding agreement and formal approval of New Zealand Transport Agency funding for the Piako river bridge clip-on pathway.”

With everything going according to plan, construction on the Kopu to Kaiaua extension of the Hauraki Rail Trail could start as early as next year.

For more information visit the Thames-Coromandel District Council's Hauraki Rail Trail webpage at: www.tcdc.govt.nz/hrt