Second bridge a bonus
Palmerston North could have its second bridge over the Manawatu¯ River within seven years.
Having abandoned hopes of building a bridge upstream of the urban area in 2012, planning for a regional ring road has more recently leant toward a downstream bridge linking Linton and Longburn south-west of the city.
But the search for a new eastwest link to replace the crippled Manawatu¯ Gorge route has created an opportunity to fasttrack construction of a bridge in the vicinity of Whakarongo, which is at the north-east end of Palmerston North.
State Highway 3 through the gorge has been closed because of slips since April and roading officials pulled contractors out of the area in July amid fears about the stability of the hillside. Officials are planning a replacement route.
Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith said something good for the region could emerge from the Manawatu¯ Gorge crisis.
‘‘There will be things that won’t please everybody,’’ he said.
‘‘But the gorge situation has provided a grand opportunity for the city and region.’’
Smith, a majority of city councillors and most other councils through the Manawatu¯ Whanganui region have put their weight behind proposed option 4, the most southern of the likely routes for the new road across the Tararuas.
Smith said the new route could bring traffic from Tararua, across the river and to Palmerston North Airport with a 13-minute drive time.
‘‘The need to get across the river is going to improve our resilience in terms of civil defence.’’
Smith said a downstream bridge would be a better location for getting traffic in and out of Linton Military Camp, and he still believed that option could be in the 50-year plan.
But the prospect of an upstream bridge as part of a project managed by the New Zealand Transport Agency was a great opportunity that should be seized, he said.
When the city council chopped a budget for protecting the approaches to a proposed bridge linking Te Matai Rd to Staces Rd east of the city, the latest estimate of the cost of a bridge was $80 million.
At that stage, the agency’s priority routes were the Manawatu¯ Gorge and the Saddle Rd further north, and there was no prospect of it subsidising the city council plan.
Option 4, with an estimate of $450m to $550m to build, would include the price of a bridge.
‘‘What we have been gifted is the opportunity to complete an east-west link, with a bridge, very quickly,’’ Smith said.
Transport agency regional transport systems manager Ross I’anson said there was no estimated cost of a bridge at this point.
The option has been strongly supported by regional development project Accelerate 25. Project leader Craig Nash said it was an advantage to have the route close to the main centre of population in Palmerston North.
It would make the proposed regional ring road route more compact, without having to build the extension to Ashhurst, which is near the gorge.
It would provide a more direct, resilient, efficient and high-speed link for road users from Palmerston North heading to the east.
Nash said it would be an advantage to provide the army with an alternative route across the Manawatu¯ River that did not involve driving across the Fitzherbert Bridge and through urban streets.
A couple of city councillors have spoken out against the proposed bridge site, concerned about increased traffic around Whakarongo School and the rural-residential Stoney Creek Rd, and loss of farm land.
But Smith said there was no class-one land in the proposed corridor for the new route, and only a small amount of second-class productive land.
He said there was potential for Whakarongo School to turn its back on Stoney Creek Rd once the residential development of Whakarongo progressed.
And in any case, the route would not take over old country roads.
There would be new roads built wide and to a high standard.