Connecting communities with a shared path and some good old-fashioned comms

By Angela Bensemann, Director Halo Communications

The Papakōwhai shared path construction project in Porirua was about more than just providing a nice wide path and some pedestrian crossings. It was about connecting communities by linking together schools, parks and public transport and filling a gap in the national Te Araroa trail.

Getting the communications right was an important part of delivering this project for the Porirua City Council transport team during late 2023 and 2024. Construction took almost a year with work completed section, by section, along the road. Keeping the information flow and momentum going with these kinds of projects, for the duration, is always a challenge.

Edited highlights

Project and site managers who understood the importance of, and prioritised, communications. I cannot stress enough what a difference this makes.
Some fabulous feedback on the communications activity.
Celebrating the opening with the Mayor of Porirua, Anita Baker, cutting the red ribbon.
Being a finalist in 2025 IPWEA Aotearoa New Zealand Awards, Category: Best Public Works Project over $5.0m.

“I have appreciated the regular updates from your project team and found these to be a great summary of the work and its progress… these are the best comms associated with any project that I’ve been working with in the last 5-10 years !!!!!” Happy important stakeholder

Papakōwhai shared path comms challenges

The Papakōwhai shared path project was one of a handful of projects to be delivered under the NZTA Transport Choices Initiative before a change of priorities from the new government. From a communications point of view this $8m project presented several challenges:

Inform not consult. This was an information-giving exercise which did not allow for feedback on the proposal or the design. Never a popular approach with communities it was our job to make sure it was fit-for purpose and a real benefit for the people it was there to connect.
Keeping the momentum going. The construction phase began in November 2023 and was completed in October 2024. If you don’t keep the information flowing people get worried and sometimes suspicious.
Communicating with residents and key stakeholders along a 2.4km stretch of road with multiple side roads branching off it. It was a long geographical area with multiple active site faces operating at any one time.
Patience wearing thin. A small number of residents were more impacted for sustained lengths of time. Quite rightly they started to get fed up.

Maintaining momentum

It is always difficult to keep momentum going and ensure people know what is happening and who to talk to if they have problems. This is more important for those living and working in the localised area, rather than the sometime commuters. We did some good old-fashioned comms using the tried and tested methods that work:

Held a public information evening
Installed multiple pedestrian information boards along the route
Set up a web page within the Council’s website
Set up a dedicated project email address
Collated a stakeholder database
Identified key stakeholders to meet with
Did letterbox drops, Facebook posts, web updates, regular project emails, media releases, adverts in the local paper etc

To keep the momentum going for a whole year we made a concerted effort to do fortnightly updates to our email list which in turn got shared on local Facebook and community pages. Multiple channels were used at different points in the work to ensure road closures and traffic management were well advertised.

Our updates outlined the work in the different sections along the route with photos, progress over the past fortnight and what to expect over the next two weeks. One-on-one communication and meetings were held with individuals to work through any issues raised.

Do what works!

None of its rocket science but it’s the stuff that works and has been proven time and again. Without the support of comms focused project and site managers it’s nigh on impossible, but when they get the importance of communicating well you actually get to do things right – how refreshing!

If you’d like help with communications on your next infrastructure project get in touch.