Work to remove State Highway 82’s century-old Waihao North River and Elephant Hill Stream bridges in South Canterbury will get underway today, with replacement bridges expected to take around 12 months to construct.
Associate Transport and South Island Minister, James Meager says the replacement of the bridges will provide safer and more reliable travel on an important inland route.
“The condition of these two-lane bridges has reached a point where it is now more cost-effective to replace them than continuing to maintain them,” Mr Meager says.
“Once these end-of-life bridges are removed, modern replacements will then be built to provide safer crossings and assurance to those travelling on SH82. This highway corridor provides important access to popular destinations such as the Canterbury Lakes, the Mackenzie District and Central Otago.
“It also offers the only convenient alternative route to State Highway 1 for people travelling north and south of the Waitaki River.
“The new bridges will also have no load restrictions, which will make life easier for freight companies and help improve productivity across the South Island.”
The total projected construction costs of each bridge replacement (including contingencies) is $14 million for the Waihao North River Bridge and $5.7 million for the Elephant Hill Steam Bridge.
Due to their close proximity, both bridge replacements are being delivered at the same time, by HEB Construction.
Temporary bridges installed at both bridge sites – one Acrow model, and another Bailey model – will allow traffic to continue to flow while the new bridges are constructed.
