Approved, not approved: Blenheim bridge plans stall as project becomes 'subject to funding approval'

Friday, 13 April 2018

Grove Park Motor Lodge owner Hamish Watson said the Ōpaoa bridge is an 'accident waiting to happen'.

A new double-lane bridge at the edge of Blenheim thought to be in the bag, with work due to start anytime soon, is now 'subject to funding approval'.

Construction of the new bridge next to Blenheim's century-old Ōpaoa bridge, dubbed a 'danger spot', was expected to start at the beginning of the year.

Cars often struggle to pass trucks on the century-old 'banana bridge', with many a wing mirror lost.

But money for the project, which was upped from $17.5 million to $21.3m late last year, promised by the previous government in January 2016, is no longer a given.

The news comes days after the Government put a $63m plan to co-locate Blenheim's two secondary schools under review. Funding for an irrigation scheme in Flaxbourne, in south Marlborough, was also canned this month.

A mock-up of the new two-lane Ōpaoa bridge, from 2017, with the old 'banana' bridge to the left as drivers approach from Picton.

An artist's impression of the Ōpaoa bridge in front of the old bridge.

* Government commits $17.5 million to replace Blenheim's Opawa Bridge

* Opawa Bridge work on target despite quake disruption to SH1**

Grovetown man Terry Ford is pleased to hear progress on the bridge has altered. He thinks a bypass should be built to relieve traffic and reduce congestion.

New Zealand Transport Agency senior manager Chris Hunt said building the bridge would depend on what direction the Government Policy Statement on land transport took.

'The Minister of Transport has released the draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport, which sets out the government's strategic direction as well as how the land transport system will be funded during the next 10 years,' Hunt said.

Hunt said the draft policy statement was open to public engagement for four weeks until May 2. The final statement would be adopted by the Government by June 30.

The Ministry of Transport declined to comment.

The previous National Government invoked the Public Works Act to buy and lease the land required for the bridge, which would be built on the western side of the existing 'banana bridge' built in 1917. The land was owned by Tauranga-based company Spinnaker Investments no 1 and leased by Blenheim Top 10 Holiday Park.

Holiday park owner Leon She had been in negotiations with the transport agency about compensation as the project was set to impose on his business, but conversations had since gone quiet.

'We have been talking about that but it has been put on pause because of this new government,' he said.

The new bridge was expected to wipe out between 40 and 50 campsites, a real 'blow to the business', She said.

'It's hard to make a decision, whether you want to make some improvements to the sites or whether you want to keep it as is,' he said.

Grove Park Motor Lodge owner Hamish Watson, whose business was next to the bridge, said delaying the project was 'ridiculous'.

'If they don't get going on the bridge soon there is going to be a terrible accident or there is going to be a pedestrian killed. It's ridiculous having a bridge that narrow on State Highway 1.'

Watson said he watched two trucks try and pass each other on the bridge this week and one of the trucks 'scraped' its tanks along the barrier because the bridge was so narrow.

He said there needed to be, at least, some form of warnings about the narrow bridge for approaching vehicles.

New Zealand Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley was 'very concerned' the project had been put on hold as the bridge was a 'serious safety risk' to road users.

'It's a real identified danger spot … We are quite alarmed at all these projects that now seem to be on hold,' he said.

Shirley said truck drivers expressed concern 'all the time' about their safety driving across the Ōpaoa Bridge.

He said this project was just 'one example' of significant projects in the pipeline diverted by the new Government.

'What we have got is a climate of extreme uncertainty. The whole of the contracting industry is sort of geared up for improving infrastructure, they have massive uncertainty.

'What the new Government has done with the policy statement for the road transport is they have diverted a huge amount of the road user taxes away from roading projects to other activities.'

The existing bridge was intended to become a walkway and cycleway.

Grovetown man Terry Ford, an advocate for a bypass skirting the eastern side of Blenheim, was pleased to hear the project was subject to funding approval.

Ford thought a bypass would be a better solution to easing congestion issues than a new bridge. It would divert traffic, especially heavy vehicles, away from the northern entranceway of Blenheim, he said.

'I would like to see traffic flowing smoothly. A lot of people are not too comfortable with the trucks because they have got bigger and bigger.'

Ford said a bypass would make life 'a lot easier' for people and should be considered before putting in a bridge.

The 'banana' bridge was 170 metres long and carried 9800 vehicles per day, 9 per cent of those heavy vehicles.