New Zealand Cycle Trail

The New Zealand Cycle Trail project (Nga Haerenga in Māori) is a New Zealand government initiative, co-funded together with local councils and charitable trusts, which is to build and operate a network of cycle routes through the country.

As of mid-2011, the first of the 18 proposed 'Great Rides' (dedicated cycleways, mostly off-road and in particularly scenic locations) were being finished, while construction was ongoing on most of the others. The first set of 'Touring Routes' (mostly on-road, to connect Great Rides), had also been announced. At the end of 2013, with the initial $50 million (plus local co-funding) essentially all spent or allocated, about 19 routes were expected to be in operation. By 2016, when added funding was announced, the total route length was about 2,500km.

Originally called the New Zealand Cycleway, and later the National Cycleway Project, it was initially conceived as a cycling route to run through the length of New Zealand, "from Kaitaia to Bluff". It was proposed by Prime Minister John Key as the 21st "surprise" item of the national Job Summit held by the New Zealand Government in early 2009.

John Key, who is also Minister of Tourism, noted that as of the middle of March 2009, officials were working "actively and aggressively" on a plan to implement the cycleway, though the original idea of a direct route was abandoned in favour of linking a network of existing paths and new sections, which Key termed 'Great Rides' in allusion to the New Zealand Great Walks system of famous tramping or hiking tracks. The individual routes are to be connected into a New Zealand-wide network in the long term.

John Key noted that to retain momentum on the process, the first sections to be funded would be publicised by June 2009. This was slightly pushed out until July 2009, when the first seven projects were announced, to receive $9 million in funding. In November 2009, construction started on the Waikato River Trails, the first of the quick-start projects, which received $3 million in funding to construct 41 km of track and thereby finish a 100 km long cycle trail along the Waikato River.

In the second stage of the project, it was announced in February 2010 that out of 54 applications (beyond the quick-start trails), 13 had been selected to receive funding (pending further feasibility studies). If all these trails and the quick-start trails were realised, they would provide over 2,000 km of trail. In September 2010, funding for another five tracks was confirmed, bringing the total up to 18.

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