Letter to the Editor, Tuesday July 19, 2016

Bridge deemed safe

Re Waimatenui-Mataraua Road Bridge N15 - response to letter from Des Mahoney in The Northland Age, July 14.

The Far North District Council wishes to respond to issues one of your correspondents raised in last Thursday's Northland Age about the safety of bridges in the district, particularly Waimatenui-Mataraua Road Bridge N15 near Kaikohe.

The council inspects load-limited bridges, major culverts and timber bridges yearly. All other bridges or major culverts are inspected two yearly. These inspections, together with feedback from the public and other sources, are used to determine which bridges require repair or replacement.

The council called for tenders to make repairs to Waimatenui-Mataraua Road Bridge N15 last year as part of its 10-year maintenance programme. However, it later withdrew this tender because it decided that further geotechnical investigation was needed on the bridge piles. The bridge has been heavily used by logging trucks and other forestry traffic in recent years and has sustained some damage as a result. The investigative work was conducted in-house and did not result in redesign, but provided more information and less risk for tenders.

A recent inspection conducted by Opus found there was vertical, or 'up-down', movement when vehicles crossed the bridge. However, there was no lateral or sideways movement as claimed by your correspondent. Opus deemed the bridge safe for heavy trucks to use, provided they crossed it at low speeds. The council has posted a 10km/h speed limit on the bridge and tendered work that takes into account the new geotechnical data. It will remove the speed limit when it has completed the repairs in about three months' time and will regularly monitor the bridge until then.

JACQUI ROBSON
General manager - Infrastructure and asset management