24 February 2006

Major work on Mangere Bridge postponed to March

Continuation of work to replace five remaining joints on the Southwestern Motorway's Mangere Bridge, originally scheduled for this weekend (24/25 February), is expected to start the weekend of 24 March 2006, weather permitting.

Following a meeting Transit New Zealand held this week with key stakeholders, including Manukau City, Auckland City and the Police, the start of work has been postponed to next month.

Transit General Manager, Operations, Roly Frost, says new traffic and communication plans are being developed to provide a number of detour options during the work. It will also give Manukau and Auckland cities and Auckland International Airport, time to complete road works affecting the detours. "We will be releasing details of the new routes and ongoing dates for the work programme within the next two weeks," he says.

Mr Frost says the work involves removing each old joint and replacing with a new one weighing 10 tonnes and spanning the two lanes. The first stage of the work is to replace the remaining two joints on the northbound lanes of the Mangere Bridge. Stage two will be to replace the three joints on the southbound lanes. Each joint replacement requires a bridge closure from late Friday night to Sunday morning. Southbound lanes will be kept open at all times to enable access to Auckland International Airport.

"It is a complex and difficult operation which has to be done as the existing joints have to be replaced before they fail and the bridge is part of vital road infrastructure serving traffic to and from South Auckland and the airport.

"While we will be doing everything possible to minimise disruption during the work, there will inevitably be major delays of up to an hour and we are urging those who can to stay away from the area altogether or to use public transport," says Mr Frost.

ENDS

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