Kopu Bridge to close for repairs

Kopu Bridge at the gateway to the Coromandel Peninsula will be closed to traffic for up to 12 nights from Sunday, for repairs to its timber decking.

Transit New Zealand will close the 77-year-old single-lane bridge from 10pm to 5am each night until the work is finished, which it hopes may be earlier than a deadline of May 19.

Nocturnal motorists travelling between Coromandel and Auckland will meanwhile have to take a detour to the north of Paeroa, meaning they should allow an extra 30 to 40 minutes travelling time.

Transit's regional bridge manager, Alan Burkett, said the agency regretted the inconvenience to motorists, but the work was essential because timbers had become loose in some parts of the bridge and needed tightening before new surface asphalt could be laid.

He said the bridge remained safe to cross, but the existing surface had cracked in places, prompting complaints from motorists about a rough ride.

The repairs would have been necessary even without delays to plans to build a replacement two-lane bridge - a $32 million project which Transit's draft 10-year highways forecast does not programme to start until 2014.