The Wynyard Quarter crossing bridge is out of action for up to nine months. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The closure of a vital pedestrian bridge and business lifeline on Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour is becoming a “reputational issue” for the city, says Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson.
Auckland Council’s Eke Panuku organisation has closed the Wynyard Quarter crossing bridge for up to nine months to fix a wide range of mechanical and structural problems - sparking anger from local hospitality operators who are frustrated over the timeframe, a big drop in customers and what they perceive to be a lack of urgency and empathy and few proper alternative solutions being offered by the council agency.
Simpson - in her capacity as lead councillor for another council organisation, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited - sent Panuku a please explain email about the bridge in early April.
“... we had a discussion at the most recent board meeting about how the inactivity of Te Wero bridge is causing significant concern for Tātaki, given its role as an important transport link from the central city, especially for pedestrians heading to major events and workers going to that area,” she wrote in the email that she has released to the Herald.
“Additionally, as a city, we’ve promoted that part of Auckland as a key element in Tāmaki Makaurau’s offer for tourists in the central city - with all the open space, bars, restaurants, hotels and other businesses in the area.
“I’ve certainly heard anecdotal feedback that the failure of the bridge in peak event season has impacted event numbers and profitability. Further, hotels in the area have an expectation that their guests can use the bridge to walk to other parts of the central city.
“You’ll be aware that we are receiving significant correspondence and contact from restauranteurs, local board members, media and others concerned about the effect this closure is having on business.”
Simpson said the bridge was only ever intended as a temporary solution - it had, nonetheless, become an essential waterfront link.
“I am concerned that Eke Panuku has seemingly not provided for replacement of it as part of its asset management planning. Surely Eke Panuku’s asset management planning could have been better here, rather than expecting council to provide additional funding once the bridge broke down.”
Hospitality operators - including The Conservatory Bar and Restaurant oener Tricky Hartley, James Gardiner from Rushworth Cafe, Alex Pearson from Wynyard Pavilion and Fraser Shenton from The Good Luck Coconut - told the Herald on Saturday that the long timeframe to repair the bridge was unacceptable and catastrophic.
Shenton said: “We’ve weathered outbreaks, floods, cyclones, pretty much everything you can throw at us but apparently we can’t survive the council’s inept attempts at maintaining something. Well, assuming they did actually attempt to maintain it.
“It should be a bumper summer, but our legs have been cut off.”
Eke Panuku is defending its previous maintenance of the bridge and the need to close it down properly until next summer, while a full programme of work is under way.
It says it is doing everything possible to have the bridge reopened quickly, an assertion that has been rejected by the bar, cafe and restaurant owners and dozens of NZ Herald readers since Saturday’s article.
Last week, Rankin said: “Once we are through all of this, we will look at if there are any learnings from the way the maintenance regime has been carried out over time, but certainly there has been maintenance.”
Eke Panuku said on Monday that their CEO had no specific concerns. “This comment related to how it is standard practice at the conclusion of a project to review and determine, in hindsight, whether anything could have been done better or differently which would have achieved an improved outcome.”
Eke Panuku said it could understand the frustrations of the public and local business owners.
“Legally, when the bridge has a technical issue, it must remain upright (closed to public access) due to the conditions of the bridge resource consent. The resource consent specifically states that marine vessels have the right of way. We are legally required to keep the bridge spans upright and closed to pedestrians because of this.”
Eke Panuku will decide this week whether to start trialling water taxis from the Viaduct to Wynyard Quarter.
“The decision will factor in the challenges we touched on last week, including the time needed to implement, operator capacity, logistics, times of operation, health and safety considerations and the cost of operation.”
The bridge was established in 2011, coinciding with the opening of the North Wharf restaurants in Wynyard Quarter and ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
“Eke Panuku, and before us Waterfront Auckland, have included a new bridge as part of previous Long-Term Plan proposals, to improve connectivity across to Wynyard Quarter,” said Rankin.
“Alongside this has been requests for funding adjoining improvements of Eastern Viaduct and Te Wero Island. This was part of the public realm improvements envisaged in transformational move 8, the ‘harbour edge stitch’, in the City Centre Masterplan 2012.
“In the December 2017 report to the governing body, it was outlined that the delivery of a range of city centre and downtown projects would be brought forward in time for the 36th America’s Cup (AC36). This followed the September 2017 approval by the planning committee of an updated direction and intent for implementation of the city centre masterplan and waterfront plan, which included a replacement of the Wynyard crossing bridge.
“As part of this process, $35m was requested in the council long-term plan for 2018. Council reduced this to $20m, in order to prioritise other urgent work required to host AC36.”
Rankin said work was done to see if the bridge could be replaced for $20m before the start of the America’s Cup.
“Following a subsequent updated cost assessment that pushed a replacement bridge well beyond the available funding, the decision was made to continue with the existing bridge for AC36. This was all pre-Covid.
“Given the council’s well-understood financial challenges post-Covid, it is clear that an expensive new bridge is not realistic. As there is a workable existing bridge, priority for what limited new project capex is available has been for Te Aru Tukutuku, being the restoration of what was known as the ‘Tank Farm’.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor.
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