ViaStrada was the successful tenderer amongst five invited to bid for the development of a regional walking and cycling strategy to cover the BOP region, including Rotorua, Whakatane and Tauranga. Work is now well under way, with the last of three monthly stakeholder meetings scheduled for 18 December.
The project is characterised by extremely good inter-agency collaboration. Stakeholders include six local councils (plus the client, Environment Bay of Plenty), two district health boards, a health service provider, Sport Bay of Plenty, Transit, Land Transport NZ and the NZ Police. A local cycling group, Cycle Action Tauranga and a group representing the disabled, CCS Disability Action, help ensure that the project looks after the needs of users as well as the agencies.