Auckland's Harbour Bridge will close tomorrow night so work teams can attach a permanent support strut. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Auckland's Harbour Bridge will close tomorrow night so work teams can attach a permanent support strut. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Get excited North Shore commuters - the harbour bridge is much closer to a permanent fix.
However, motorists and bus passengers will first have to endure at least one more night of lane closures.
That's because Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency work teams plan - weather permitting - to close the bridge's southbound lanes tomorrow night to install a new metal support strut.
Should the operation prove successful, it could mean the bridge is fully open a week from now, although the NZTA said a definite timeframe was still not confirmed.
The repairs will be hailed by commuters after weeks of interruptions.
It comes after a freak 127km/h gust of wind on Friday, September 18, blew a truck into a metal support strut, damaging the bridge and forcing engineers to close four of its eight lanes.
The powerful winds also tipped another truck on its side.
Four of the bridge's eight lanes were closed, bringing chaos to the city's road network that evening as motorists took hours to make it home.
A second bout of strong winds barrelling through Waitematā Harbour at close to 100km/h brought more delays to motorists last Tuesday when authorities temporarily closed the bridge.
NZTA transport services general manager Brett Gliddon said the forecast was for good weather tomorrow night, but if the weather wasn't suitable the repairs would not go ahead.
"On Saturday night the engineers plan to replace the temporary strut, which was installed last week," he said.
The permanent repair strut in Whangārei where it has been fabricated. Photo / Supplied
"The permanent strut will be 22.7 metres long and will reach from the bridge over-arch to the bridge deck. It's been fabricated from NZ-made steel in Whangārei as a like-for-like replacement."
Gliddon said once the new strut was in place engineers would still need to "jack up the bridge deck" so the new strut could be connected as a load-bearing support.
"This is by far the most complex part of the process because the bridge needs to be constantly monitored to see how it's responding to the new weight distribution," he said.
"This re-tensioning will need to take place on another night (to be confirmed) that will involve the southbound lanes over the harbour bridge closing from 9pm to 5am. If there is bad weather or high winds, the bridge work and southbound closure will happen on the first available fine night.
"We are confident we have left nothing to chance, checking and re-checking the weight-bearing calculations and then getting our detailed plan peer reviewed by bridge experts overseas. However, there are still many things that all need to go right on the night."
To complete tomorrow night's repairs, work teams will close all four centre lanes on the bridge from 5pm to allow the temporary strut to be removed.
The two outer southbound lanes will be closed from 9pm until mid-morning on Sunday.
"That means there will be no southbound lanes open on the bridge. The southbound motorway on ramps at Esmonde Rd and Onewa Rd will also close from 8.30pm," NZTA said.
The two outer northbound lanes on the bridge will remain open.
Southbound motorists are advised to use the Western Ring Route on SH16 and SH18.
Auckland Transport buses from the North Shore to the city will stop at Akoranga bus station from 8.15pm, then a shuttle service will take passengers to and from the Birkenhead ferry wharf.
Buses from the city to the North Shore will continue running, but with reduced services.
The Birkenhead to downtown ferries will run on a standard timetable on Saturday before extra sailings begin departing every 30 minutes from 8.45pm until 12.15am on Sunday.
Extra ferries heading in the opposite direction will begin departing every 30 minutes from 8.30pm until midnight.
On Sunday morning, Birkenhead to downtown ferries will depart every 30 minutes from 6.30am until 9.35am when they return to a standard timetable.
Those heading in the opposite direction will depart every 30 minutes from 6.15am until 9.10am before returning to a standard timetable.
