Auckland Harbour Bridge: Experts say incident shows need for new infrastructure

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Waka Kotahi general manager transport services Brett Gliddon on the next steps for Auckland's Harbour Bridge

Experts say the Auckland’s Harbour Bridge lane closures show once again the region’s desperate need for improved infrastructure.

Travel mayhem hit on Friday after two trucks were caught up in a 127 kilometre per hour wind gust and one crashed, causing damage to the bridge.

The centre four lanes have been shut since.

Traffic flowed slowly but steadily across the harbour bridge on Monday afternoon.

The commuter chaos, as expected, was felt on Monday and Tuesday, and is likely to continue for weeks as extensive repair work is needed on the bridge.

**READ MORE:

Replacement beams need to be designed and manufactured from scratch.

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* Auckland traffic live: Congestion remains around the bridge after damage closes lanes

* Fresh calls for extra Auckland harbour crossing as bridge damage shows city's vulnerability

It sparked fresh calls for an additional harbour crossing in New Zealand’s largest city, something mayor Phil Goff said work was already underway on, but Aucklanders shouldn’t expect to see anything until the next decade at the earliest (2030-40).

The outer clip-on lanes of the bridge remain in use, but heavy vehicles like lorries are not permitted to use them.

John Tookey, a professor of construction at Auckland University of Technology, said the incident threw into stark relief just how dependent the city is on a single piece of infrastructure.

The current damage to the bridge itself was extensive and there will be no easy fix, he said.

Phil Goff says a tunnel, beneath the Auckland harbour, was the preferred option at present, for an additional crossing.

A possible temporary fix allowing some inner lanes to open to lighter vehicles won't be in place for about another week, if it goes ahead at all.

The permanent fix will take even longer as a beam needs to be designed and manufactured from scratch.

As expected there were heavy delays across central Auckland on Monday after the centre lanes on the Harbour Bridge were closed.

“The process of installation itself is not an inconsiderable task. All to be undertaken while maintaining as much of the functional capacity as possible for the bridge,” Tookey said.

“Bottom line – it is going to take as long as it takes.”

Freak accident or not, Tookey said the crash highlighted how easy it is for Auckland to shut down economically and socially, with just the two harbour crossing routes currently in place.

He pointed to how rapidly Aucklanders had forgotten how much time used to be spent getting around the city before the Waterview tunnel and said the value of improved and enhanced infrastructure can’t be understated.

“An additional harbour crossing is something that should have been front and centre in most people’s estimation for a number of years,” he said.

“The fact that $8 billion has been mentioned for this project is not a number designed to encourage commitment.

“It is noticeable that when the regular re-litigation of whether to have a stadium on the waterfront comes up that projected costs are much more optimistically set.

“Similarly when the SkyPath was pitched for funding under the government’s ‘shovel ready’ scheme, money was found.

“I guess it comes down to priorities.”

Fellow engineering academic Dr Theuns Henning from the University of Auckland said while Friday’s incident had frustrated commuters, it could have been much worse.

“The Auckland Harbour Bridge is well maintained and the right protocols are in place for strong winds – the consequences could have been much worse had an efficient infrastructure maintenance plan not been in place,” he said.

“This reinforces the importance of investing in infrastructure, as the consequences of losing the full use of critical infrastructure has significant implications.”