Hastings District Council estimates the Redclyffe Bridge will be repaired by mid-June. Photo / Paul Taylor.
Hastings District Council estimates the Redclyffe Bridge will be repaired by mid-June. Photo / Paul Taylor.
Taradale businesses are counting the cost of the absent Redclyffe Bridge.
Hastings District Council (HDC) staff estimate a temporary bridge will reconnect Waiohiki and Taradale by mid-June but that’s of little comfort to those trying to make a living on Gloucester St.
“This is a terrible situation for us,” said Caltex service station manager Swapnesh Patel.
“We’ve already laid off two staff because we don’t have enough work to give them and we are advised to lay off one more staff member. From 300 hours a week, we are now open 200 hours and we’re trying to do 150 now because, as you can see, there’s nobody here.”
Another Gloucester St business owner said takings were down by even more than that, due to the absence of passing traffic. The owner wanted to be anonymous, but said the fact that EIT would be closed for another six months wasn’t helping either.
“I used to do in a day $6000 and now I do $2000 or $3000. That’s a big change.”
Traffic congestion on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway has been a talking point since the region’s network of bridges was compromised by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council announced on Friday the resumption of limited bus services between Napier and Hastings - via Clive - as a means of taking some cars off the road.
“We now have confidence that the road closures on SH51 - for stress testing Waitangi Bridge - are not going to disrupt a regular intercity service,” HBRC policy and regulation group manager Katrina Brunton said.
It remains to be seen if that reduces the volume of cars in any way, while Hastings District Council’s “two-stage response” to repairing the Redclyffe Bridge continues.
Businesses in Taradale are struggling while the Tutaekuri River remains impassable. Photo / Paul Taylor.
“Stage one will see HDC proceed with a temporary bridge that will use the four existing spans at each end,’’ an HDC spokesperson told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“The middle spans and piers will be demolished and replaced with eight temporary spans. The bridge will be two lanes and six metres wide. The current estimate for opening the temporary bridge is mid-June.
“Stage two will see this bridge replaced with a permanent structure, the design of which will be informed by future development strategy and transportation network modelling.”
That sounds like a lengthy process, with HDC indicating issues such as future land use will dictate where roads and bridges end up. The resilience of the existing road network came into question during Cyclone Gabrielle. HDC said there was no timeline for when definite decisions on these topics would be made.
