Ask Phoebe: Stanley Bay seawall set to be fixed

Auckland Harbour Bridge. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Last March, after heavy seas, the Stanley Bay Reserve, which adjoins the harbour, developed a small hole in the seawall. The North Shore City Council put a safety barrier around it. The hole is several metres long now and getting worse each day. This is a popular family beach, so when are they going to fix it? Garry Graham, Devonport.

Colin Field, manager of asset development and business support at Auckland Council, says the council has been working with Auckland Transport to obtain resource consent for the seawall at Stanley Bay. A decision on the consent is close and when it's received, the problems with the wall can be addressed. It is anticipated work will begin in July.

There seems to me to be an issue with the western clip-on of the harbour bridge. The road surface towards the top is uneven and I notice cars and buses can get a significant up-and-down suspension movement as they go over the top. I feel that when a bus or truck gets into such a movement it must be imparting a similar pressure on the structure of the clip-on and I wonder whether that is a good thing for the bridge? Surely the road surface could be corrected?
Rhys Morgan, Auckland.

A spokesman for the New Zealand Transport Agency says the uneven surface is caused by the join of two sections of the clip-ons, and upgrades over the years have added to this. In the past, a traditional asphalt surface was shaped to make the highway smoother at the crest. The thick asphalt added more weight to the bridge and the NZTA now uses a polyurethane-based surface which, while lighter, is more challenging to lay in terms of smoothing out the surface. The clip-ons are designed to be flexible and move and absorb the impact of vehicles, including heavy trucks, after the latest strengthening work on the bridge extensions.