A section of a well-worn and popular Tauranga walkway will be closed for the next three months as Tauranga City Council restores the eroded structure to give it a new lease of life.

From Sunday, the Daisy Hardwick walkway between Maxwells Rd and Coach Drive, at Pillans Point, will be closed as council staff work on the Waikareao Walkway Erosion Protection.

Tauranga City Council harbour parks coordinator Craig Fea and community projects manager Cameron Warr inspect the track to be rebuilt. Photo by Luke Balvert.

The 700metre section forms part of the 9km Waikareao Estuary loop walkway, which many people cycle, walk and run around on a daily basis.

TCC project manager Cameron Warr says the busy walkway gets damaged whenever there are Easterly storms. As a result, about 1km of the walkway will be closed with a detour along Maxwells, Pillans Point and Goods roads to re-join the track – totalling 1.2km.

'Damaged areas are made safe and/or repaired after storms, but coastal structures only have a limited lifespan – and this track is pretty much at the end of its life,” says Cameron.

As part of the $462,000 Waikareao Walkway Erosion Protection works, 800m3 of dredged sand will be used as fill for part of the construction – currently stockpiled in the Goods Road Reserve.

The three-month project involves forming a new rock rip-rap seawall along the seaward side of the walkway and resurfacing the well-worn walkway – eroded via gradual wear and tear.

The riprap seawall is similar to what has been recently constructed along Beach Rd.

'This is one of the most popular walkways in Tauranga; and it is hard to find a suitable time to close the walkway to undertake the works,” says Cameron.

'The works were originally going to be split over a two-year period, but we are doing two sections at once which should provide some savings and less disruption.

Renewing the walkway involves repairing and resurfacing it, including placing more gravel on the surface, where required.