Plans to build a concrete path from Kowhai Park to the Warkworth showgrounds are blowing through the available budget of $630,000 to $925,830.

The original estimated cost of the project was $335,000.

The cost skyrocketed after the council’s community services team reported that an elevated 75-metre boardwalk structure and a 10-metre wooden bridge would be needed to span floodplain areas along the path. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the construction sector was unknown and had been factored into the cost estimate as a contingency.

Due to the increase in cost, the project will be spaced out over a course of several years, starting with the section from Heritage Lane, off Melwood Drive, through to the southern side of the old Atlas site, where a temporary Park and Ride is due to be built by Auckland Transport. Stage Two would run from the northern edge of the Park and Ride to the showgrounds, and Stage Three would connect the two along the western edge of the Atlas site.

Although the Park and Ride and footpath construction are separate projects, community services are working together with AT where possible.

The original design for the path was for a 70-metre suspension bridge, but consent could not be obtained, so the 450-metre concrete pathway was chosen instead.

However, as with many projects and budgets at present, members were warned that there was a degree of uncertainty over their going ahead, due Covid-19 and council’s subsequent revenue shortfall.

Board members voted seven to two in favour of approving the path design through the former Atlas site and staging construction over future years “in an order that aligns with available funding”. Wellsford member Colin Smith and Warkworth member Tim Holdgate voted against the recommendation.