Board weighs future of Weona walkway
Options for the route range from repair to complete closure.
A damaged stretch of Westmere's Weona walkway could end up repaired, rerouted, or closed for good, with council staff now weighing the options after the local board asked them to take a proper look.
The track slipped back in 2023 after a run of heavy rain. The affected section was closed off and covered with polythene sheeting as a stopgap, to keep water out of the ground and cut the risk of it shifting further.
Since then, chunks of the path have reopened, so people can again reach the little boat ramp at the southern end and the beach to the north. At low tide you can drop down to the beach and climb back onto the track, "if you don't mind a bit of mud," board chair Alex Bonham says in her August report.
The fixes on the table run from engineering jobs like a pile retaining wall, a boardwalk on deep pile foundations, or soil nails with a coastal retaining wall, through to permanently closing the tricky section or rerouting the walkway along the beach or across private land.
A cost-benefit analysis will follow once staff report back. Bonham calls the walkway "a valued asset" and "a beautiful part of Auckland," though there's no price tag or timeline for a decision yet.
