KEY POINTS:
I guess a $51.2 million "aesthetically world-class" waterfront opening bridge that mimics a yacht sail is a sexier instant city icon than Te Puke's two-storey kiwifruit or Ohakune's giant carrot. But is a signpost really worth all that cash?
In a community that cries poor at the thought of building a decent theatre for its citizens - to mention but the latest example of civic skinflintedness - is a toy like this really the best use of public funds? One which, in the final analysis, will just go up and down and up and down until the batteries run down and we tire and walk away.
Which reminds me: Don't we have something like that down there already? Of course we do. It's even listed as a heritage treasure by both Auckland City and the regional council, not that either body wants to be reminded.
Imported from Darlington, England, in kitset form in 1931 for just $46,000, this historic "rolling lift" bridge was reassembled like a giant Meccano toy to provide road and rail access from Quay St to what's now called Te Wero Island. In its heyday, it was not only eminently functional, it was also a popular drawcard for young and old.
On a busy day it lifted more than 20 times a day to let fishing boats in and out of the old basin. Using a 102-tonne, concrete counterweight, the roadway was raised and lowered gracefully with the aid of a very modest 15 horsepower electric motor.
It's still there, permanently in the down position since the fishing basin was remodelled in the 1990s as part of the America's Cup upgrade and an alternative access opened to the sea to the west.
The plan is to retain the old bridge, forever locked down, as part of the cityside approaches to its grand replacement. The newcomer is to span the new 40m gap from Te Wero across to Halsey St in the Tank Farm redevelopment.
A year ago, proponents of resurrecting the old bridge, yachtsman Peter Walker and charter operator William Goodfellow, got the cold shoulder from city officials when they challenged the proposed new lifting bridge.
They conceded the old bridge is not wide enough, at 8.6m, to cater for two-way vehicular traffic and pedestrians, but argued pedestrian walkways could be attached to the sides. Alternatively, a new matching pedestrian bridge could be built alongside.
The existing 13m-wide channel the old bridge straddles will also be too tight a fit for the odd luxury gin palace. But if that is considered a calamity, Mr Walker says the channel could be widened and the main span of the old bridge extended accordingly.
What the existence of the old bridge highlights is that on a functional level at least, the planned lifting bridge is surplus to requirements. And that if the old bridge was restored, the gap across to Halsey St could be bridged by a simple fixed span.
Unfortunately, several years ago in the bowels of the bureaucracy, the denizens became fixated with the vision of an iconic lifting bridge at this spot.
The cost alone should have alarm bells ringing. A year ago, the design competition guidelines set $35 million as the starting point but added the proviso that "the project will be funded at a level that is comparable with world-class opening bridges of this size".
The estimate is now up to $51.2 million - twice the cost allotted to the Aotea Square rebuild - but "given the complex nature of the project and the current volatile global materials market, substantial risks will remain regarding cost estimates until such times as consents are obtained".
In the obsession to create the "landmark sculptural bridge for the harbour and our city", form seems to be more important than function. The latest project report says that one way to stem soaring costs would be to kick public transport off the bridge and redesign it "to cater for cycle and walking only". How that fits with an earlier city council proposal to use the bridge as a new artery for buses to Ponsonby and North Shore I don't know. My worry is that no one at city hall does either.
