Blenheim's new gateway will have the 'wow' factor as it welcomes visitors to town

Thursday, 12 December 2019

Master carver Reg Thompsett makes the first marks on a pou whenua for the new Ōpaoa Bridge in Blenheim.

An award winning carver making a monument for a new overpass in Blenheim is 'honoured' it will be the gateway to the town.

The 150-year-old Ōpaoa Bridge - nicknamed the banana bridge - will be replaced with a new overpass, featuring a landscape filled with native plants, a central courtyard with paved whariki (welcome mat) cycle racks, boulders and most importantly, a 7-metre tall Pou Whenua.

Spring Creek's master carver Reg Thompsett is working towards carving the monument, which would 'speak to the long history of Wairau/Blenheim.'

Thompsett told NZTA it was a big honour for him to portray the stories of his ancestors in the Pou.

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'When people ask me to do a pre-plan or a pre-drawing, my plan is actually in my head. I don't put it to paper,' he said.

The 'wow' factor of this work is when people look at the finished project and 'they can't express their words, when someone look on it and says nothing, that is the biggest mana that is bestowed upon me'.

NZTA has budgeted $21 million to complete the project.

In 2011, in Marlborough's, Blenheim Millennium Art Gallery's exhibition, Toi Wairau, Thompsett's carving was among one of the pieces from Te Runanga a Rangitane o Wairau collection, loaned to the gallery for the exhibition.

It had been organised to display Maori and Pakeha art in Marlborough, from historical to contemporary, as part of the nationwide Real New Zealand festival for the Rugby World Cup.

Officials from NZTA and the Marlborough District Council met with Rangitāne, Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Toa in April to discuss potential beautification designs. A flax theme was suggested.

The current bridge is too narrow, and its replacement will be wider, safer and more resilient to natural hazards.

NZTA South Island regional relationships director Jim Harland said in August last year, 'the new bridge will make SH1 more resilient to natural disasters and more secure as New Zealand's key strategic freight route connecting the North and South Islands'.

NZTA say the new bridge will make SH1 more resilient to natural disasters and more secure as New Zealand's key strategic freight route connecting the North and South Islands'.

The works were expected to have little impact on traffic and the biggest disruption will be towards the end of the project, Harland said.

NZTA appointed Downer New Zealand to carry out the bridge's construction, which started ahead of time in early September last year.

Downer project manager Steve Ricketts said in May this year, the new bridge would be 10 meters wide, double-laned and 'all concrete', with 150 millimetres in movement allowed.

Once completed, a landscape plan would be carried out to beautify the area and create an attractive gateway to Blenheim.

This is the only bridge that linked major South Island cities together - Picton to Christchurch, crossing through Marlborough, which was a major trade area in the region.

For the Christmas period from December 20 until January 6 the project will stop, however, the traffic management will remain in place with reduced speed limit for the safety of the public.

The NZTA budgeted $21 million to complete the project and the old banana bridge would still be in use, although just for cyclist and pedestrians.