Council’s Director Community Lifelines David Wilson says we can now provide an update on what the timeframes are likely to be for fixing the eight bridges destroyed during Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The timeframes will not be palatable to all as they are dependent on favourable construction conditions and future funding decisions.

“Our immediate plan after Gabrielle was to provide temporary access to properties with either a bridge, ford crossing or alternative routes. This was to enable the rural sector to de-stock farms in the first 6 weeks after the storm.

“Council would like to thank adjacent landowners who allowed neighbours access to their properties during this time.”

With the most recent state of emergency and winter conditions many ford crossings have now become impassable, and residents are wanting more clarity about the future.

“When onsite conditions are more favourable, four temporary engineered crossing solutions are either in place like Bushy Knoll or awaiting to be installed for Hangaroa, Te Kowhai and Bruce roads.

“Our contractors are just as frustrated as the community is with the weather conditions. They have the resources and materials ready to install these structures but until we get a settled period of weather they may not be installed until summer” says Mr Wilson.

The landowner on Burgess Road has installed a private flying fox so their immediate welfare needs are met.

Two bridges on the Upper Mata and Ruakaka roads serve communities of about 40 people each. Temporary access options were considered but the onsite conditions at both bridges were too challenging to install temporary bridges or ford crossings.

“While these residents do have alternative road access, Council acknowledges that it will add another hour to their journey” says Mr Wilson.

For the last bridge on Hikuwai Road, a ford crossing was installed to allow the landowner to remove produce from his farm, but the river levels are too high to make this a safe option. A flying fox is being investigated but needs to pass the appropriate engineering and health and safety measures.

“Residents have asked about Bailey bridges, but these have been prioritised at a national level including the state highways” says Mr Wilson.

“While temporary solutions are planned residents are also asking about long-term fixes and timeframes.

“We are working with Waka Kotahi on major roading infrastructure replacement post Cyclone Gabrielle. Council needs to submit a cost-benefit evaluation on each destroyed bridge. This involves looking at alternative options, traffic volumes, detailing benefits of the project and the costs.

“If the evaluations are favourable and we can secure government funding, then the next challenge will be seeking the remaining costs from ratepayers. We are unable to provide the total replacement costs due to the different engineering challenges at each site. This will be clarified as part of the economic evaluation which will take four months to complete.”

Design, investigation and procurement processes will take at least 12-16 months and Council will have a rolling programme of fixing a number of bridges each year, but again this is dependent on funding.

“Council staff will start informing residents of the next steps over July-August, but we ask for patience as staff are still focussed on reopening the network after the most recent state of emergency.

“Over the last four months staff and contractors have been repairing 140 bridges damaged from Cyclone Gabrielle which has involved removing woody debris and undertaking structural fixes. We have to protect our remaining bridge stock to make sure we don’t lose any further bridges” says Mr Wilson.

To those families still stranded please reach out to our welfare teams if you need any support.

• Call us on 0800 653 800
• Email service@gdc.govt.nz
• or via the eFix service on Council’s website.

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