SUPPLIED/Marlborough Express
The proposed Whale Trail, in red, uses the stopbank behind properties in Tuamarina before joining SH1. The other option, sticking to the stopbank, in orange, needed landowners on board. It looked liked the wheels were finally in motion last year when the project received $18 million from the Government, putting it on the post-Covid “shovel-ready” list. But turning the first sod could be a ways away yet in Tuamarina. Residents aren’t happy with the route, which would take cyclists along the stopbank at the back of their houses, before taking a hard right at the community hall and left onto SH1 for 50 metres.