Bridge strut installed

Auckland: A new permanent strut has been successfully installed on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, replacing the one damaged 17 days ago.

Most lanes on the bridge were closed on Saturday night so the nearly 23mlong, fivetonne steel strut could be erected. The outside clipon lanes were then partially reopened by midmorning yesterday.

The work would go through quality control assessments, and the two centre lanes remained closed so engineers could return the bridge’s weight distribution to its usual balance.

Auckland commuters were urged to continue to avoid the harbour bridge if possible, until it was fully opened.

‘‘Once we’re a hundred percent happy then we’ll be able to reopen it back to full operation, eight lanes, which we hope to do later next week,’’ NZ Transport Agency general manager transport services Brett Gliddon said.