MORE URGENT REPAIRS FOR HIKUAI BRIDGE – EXPECT DISRUPTIONS

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency have sent a media release advising that urgent repair work is needed to the Hikuai River bridge on SH25 and this is scheduled for tomorrow 10 November and will result in closures in both directions for up to 30 minutes at a time.

This will take place between 9:30am and 4pm although contractors will try and make sure the bridge is open for school traffic leaving Tairua after 3pm.

This will be followed by a week of night closures from Sunday 28 November through to Thursday 2 December. The bridge will close between 8pm and 5am over those evenings while steel plates are bolted to the deck. The work will start each evening at 8pm and the bridge will reopen by 5am each day.

This will be a major disruption for travellers with the alternative east to west and vice versa being by the Tapu to Coroglen or the 309 and SH25 via Coromandel Town. A round trip for some of over 180km’s.

NZTA advise that the bridge requires a full deck replacement which is schedules to happen at some stage during 2022. Many would say that the work needs doing now and not next year with the bridge clearly past it’s use by date.

Waikato System Manager for NZTA Cara Lauder said “We apologise for the inconvenience to motorists, however both these pieces of work are necessary to keep the bridge open.”