{"id":131764,"date":"2015-10-15T11:14:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T09:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/?p=131764"},"modified":"2015-10-15T11:14:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T09:14:16","slug":"cycling-without-traffic-rail-trail-in-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/10\/15\/cycling-without-traffic-rail-trail-in-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling Without Traffic – Rail Trail in New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine you\u2019re in the middle of Eleanor Catton\u2019s Man Book Prize 2013 winning book The Luminaries <\/em>scenario: it\u2019s 1866 during Otago Gold Rush in southern New Zealand. All you can see is the untouched natural beauty of the coastline, the rivers of gold, the cultural mishmash from adventurers trying their luck\u2026 you and your bike in a rail trail. No, wait!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

Believe me, that\u2019s true. It all started back in 1994, when the Otago Central Rail Trail Trust was established by the Department of Conservation to help it raise funds to convert an unused railway line into a walking and cycling trail. It took six years of work to re-deck and equip some 68 bridges over 100 channels with handrails, replace the railway ballast, and improve the touristic infrastructure along the corridor.<\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

The Central Otago Rail Trail was opened in 2000 and it\u2019s probably the most known cycle trail in New Zealand. The 150km cycle trail\u2019s difficult level was rated\u00a0among the easiest of all the cycle trails in New Zealand. It takes four days to complete it and it is open all year long.<\/p>\n

A little bit of History<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The original railway served the agricultural hinterland and the goldfields. However, when gold went into decline, the line remained an essential transportation and freight service for the Central Otago farming sector and its communities.<\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

Over the time, road transport eventually became more viable and the railway missed some of its attractiveness. But even so the railway continued to be important due to the construction of the Clyde Dam during the 80\u2019 until its completion in 1990.<\/p>\n

Economic\u00a0impacts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The trail passes through many small communities, which supported the trail\u2019s construction and enjoy to spend time talking to cyclists who pass by. This was the first nationaly relevant partnership of a community trust, the Department of Conservation, business and local people.<\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

According to the Otago Central Rail Trail plan for the future, they receive over 12,000 visitors per year (and recently experience\u00a0an increase of\u00a0about 14% each year) who contribute with more than NZ$ 12 million to the Central Otago economy.<\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

On average, the expenditure of people completing the Otago Central Rail Trail is estimated in NZ$ 472 per person. All this helped to boost the economy and recycle the tourism, generating indirect employment benefits mostly in accommodation, package operation, food and consumables goods.<\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

New Zealand is now a strong competitor in rail trails and cycling trails in general. The Otago\u2019s good tourism\u00a0success has been used as a benchmark\u00a0for similar projects in New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand\u2019s government started national initiative to develop a network of 18 world\u2010class cycle trails in 2009.<\/p>\n

\"Otago<\/p>\n

The number of tourists for that respective year, both international and domestic that ride a bicycle while in the country, was over 300,000.\u00a0This project established a NZ$ 50 million fund over three years for the construction of the \u201cGreat Rides\u201d series across the country. Together these trails amount to nearly 2,500 kilometers of tracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine you\u2019re in the middle of Eleanor Catton\u2019s Man Book Prize 2013 winning book The Luminaries scenario: it\u2019s 1866 during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":131765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,329],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-131764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","category-road-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nCycling Without Traffic - Rail Trail in New Zealand - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Central Otago Rail Trail is probably the most known cycle trail in New Zealand.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/10\/15\/cycling-without-traffic-rail-trail-in-new-zealand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cycling Without Traffic - 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