Link Pathway leads the way to more connected communities

Armed with a vision, a group of Marlborough residents have forged a pathway at the top of the south.

The Link Pathway runs from Picton to Havelock, and has been in the works for almost 13 years.

Marlborough resident Rick Edmonds drove the project from its inception.

“The initial genesis of the idea was just let’s make some tracks to get people off the road, and as we started doing it, and we saw that we could do it, we got more and more enthusiastic about making it a really high-quality pathway and linking all the communities from Picton all the way to Havelock,” he said.

He said funding from Rātā Foundation and support from the community was essential in bringing the project to life.

“In the early days of the project it was all done by a handful of volunteers, but as the project gathered momentum, and especially as we got more into the technical areas of making a pathway, the funding was hugely significant,” he said.

“We couldn’t have done this project – we would have gone so far by hand with volunteers, but ones we started looking at structures like boardwalks, bridges, signage, orientation, seating, a whole host of things we had to do, we were reliant on significant sponsors.”