Council fixes slippery boardwalk

SAFE: Michael Coote, managing director of Resin Surfaces, prepares the Hatea Loop boardwalk for the installation of an anti-slip coating. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Complaints from people slipping on Whangarei's popular Hatea Loop walkway have prompted the installation of a coating to help people keep their grip.

Over the next three weeks contractors will be working on the Hihiaua side of the walkway installing an anti-slip material to the timber parts of the walkway.

Disruption to users will be minimal, with small sections fenced off at a time, the Whangarei District Council says.

Council landscape architect Tracey Moore said the council was responding to health and safety concerns after several users slipped in the area.

In August last year, Mikayla Worth fell while carrying her baby. Both were uninjured but Ms Worth was shaken by the incident and asked the council to take action.

At the time, council staff assured her they would remedy the slippery wooden sections of the walkway from the Town Basin playground to the Waka and Wave sculpture and said other users had also complained.

In the meantime, regular water blasting has been used to keep the surfaces free from slippery residue but the anti-slip coating is now going down.

Ms Moore said the timber boardwalk and triangular "bump-outs" will be a crushed granite or amber coloured stone to integrate with existing paving and features.

The surface would be the same material used on Auckland's famous pink cycleway.

"[But] they're subdued hues so as not to detract from the artwork," Ms Moore said.

The 150m of boardwalk between the playground and Reyburn House would be more "playful and vibrant", Ms Moore said.

"The greens, blues, teal and yellow were selected to reflect our natural environment - bush and coastal areas," she said.

Work began this week and will continue for three weeks depending on the weather.

Sections of timber being coated will be cordoned off.

Users of the Hatea Loop will be directed on to the grass to pass during the installation period.