TROUBLED WATERS

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Many of the bridges damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle across the region have been inspected and the results are good and bad.

The council's roading team have inspected 344 bridges so far, with another 80 or so to do.

“The good news is 286 are OK. The not-so-good news is that nine have been destroyed,” the council said in a statement.

“Where possible, an alternative access like a ford crossing or temporary road through private land is being constructed as a short-term measure.

“We're working through the permanent fixes and these will take time.”

The council said 14 bridges were still standing but had major structural issues.

“These are being prioritised as urgent repairs as it's easier to fix an existing bridge in place than fix a major bridge deck or pier failure.

“It's a bit like the difference between an ankle sprain and a broken leg.

“For some of these bridges, we need to keep weight restrictions in place so heavy trucks cannot use them. Our target is to try to fix these bridges within 12 months.”

The council said there were 34 bridges with less serious structural issues. This means the bridge approach has been washed away, causing major scouring around the bridge.

“We're getting contractors to programme these fixes over the next 12 to 18 months.”

The council said it would provide further updates as it got more information around time frames to get bridges repaired.

“A huge shout out to the teams out there on our road network. A lot of mahi has been done in the last few weeks.”