Te Awa River Ride Cycleway

Progress to date

Construction on the Te Awa River Ride Cycleway between Cambridge and Hamilton began in February 2021 to link this section to the Cambridge-Karāpiro section.

Since being greenlit in August 2020, the Cambridge-Hamilton link of the Te Awa River Ride has been well and truly underway. In some parts of the track, concrete has been laid, and helicopters have been used to deliver resources and equipment to particularly remote areas.

February update

Construction on the Te Awa River Ride is in full swing!

Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) is in the final stages of design of an underpass near Wiremu Tamihana Drive (Tamahere). Construction of the underpass is hoped to start in Summer 2021 and is expected to be complete in the second half of 2022.

The section of Te Awa between Cambridge and Hamilton will incorporate community facilities in Tamahere like the school and the shops, while adding previously inaccessible stretches of Waikato riverbank.

You can find a full rundown until February 2021 here.

May update

Waipā District Council is in the process of completing a section of the Te Awa River Ride behind St Peter's Cambridge School. This path will traverse newly replanted gullies and across bridges to connect with a riverbank section being built by Waka Kotahi.

The Waka Kotahi section will connect to the Hooker Road to Tamahere Drive that was completed last year. The Wiremu Tamihana underpass under State Highway 21 Airport Road is also now under construction and is tracking on forecast.

You can find a full progress report of the May section here.

July update

Progress has continued along the Te Awa River Ride Cycleway for Waipā District Council.

Concrete has been laid, bush has been cleared in inaccessible areas along the river and the cycleway is on track for its estimated completion date.

A full gallery of our progress is available on our Facebook page here.

October update

Progress has continued along the Te Awa River Ride Cycleway for Waipā District Council, however has been delayed due to COVID-19 and ongoing supply shortages.

We're happy to share over 7000 plants have been planted along the Waipā section of the River Ride, which will provide shade for cyclists and river-goers, as well as a habitat for a variety of manu Māori [native birds] and other species.

December Update

Waipā District Council is in the process of completing the Cambridge section of the Te Awa River Ride. All the concrete for the cycleway has been poured with a couple of minor concrete pours still to be done for picnic table areas.

The boardwalk is in the final stage of being completed in the last area (where it connects the cycleway to the existing velodrome). Security fencing and mesh are in the process of being installed and all three of the bridges are now in place.

March Update

After 12 months of construction the Waipā section of the Te Awa River Ride opened on 1 March 2022. There was a slight delay in the opening due to Cyclone Dovi causing damage to railings on the track.

To further celebrate the opening of the latest section, Waipā District Council is running a ‘Ride & Win with Waipā’ competition for the month of March, where visitors to Te Awa can be in to win one of two bikes valued at up to $1,000 each, sponsored by local Cambridge bike specialists Spoken Cycles, and one of four bike prize packs. Terms and conditions for the competition are available at waipadc.govt.nz/teawabikepromo.