Bridge ‘miles ahead of schedule’
Work on the new Pyramid Bridge near Riversdale is ahead of schedule, but it will still be June before vehicles can drive across it.
A 50m section of the old bridge collapsed in February 2018, during a flood on the Mataura River.
Total construction cost for it’s replacement is $3.79 million, but there had also been design, business case and resource consent costs totalling about $600,000.
The NZ Transport Agency is providing a 73 per cent subsidy for construction, and the Gore District and Southland District councils were sharing the remaining cost.
Concrete Structures supervisor Alan White said work on the widened single lane bridge was ‘‘miles ahead of schedule’’.
‘‘Things went a bit better than we thought and we got a really good start on it before Christmas.
‘‘There’s only been one flood just before Christmas that caused us any issues, but the river has played ball really.’’
The company had pushed gravel out into the river to make a causeway so it could work on the bridge, leaving a channel for the river to flow.
It had just completed putting headers on the bridge piles and had started working on beams.
Each concrete component was bought to the site from Christchurch by truck and manouevred into place.
The river would be rehabilitated back to normal once the bridge and the road abutments at each end of it were completed, he said.
Gore District Council transport manager Peter Standring said the company was ‘‘very experienced’’ at building bridges.
‘‘These guys are doing this stuff all over the country so their experience actually paid off...that allows them to be able to sharpen things up.’’
Once the bridge was finished, work would begin on the abutments at each end of it.
‘‘This project is expected to be completed in June and it’s going along well but there is still a lot there to be done.’’
The council was putting in a shorter bridge than the original one because it was pushing out into the river more on the eastern side to make a safer approach, he said.
A slip lane would be built and the new area would give more room for trucks and large farm machinery to turn, he said.
Council infrastructure services manager Ramesh Sharma said the site was working under restrictions placed on it by Environment Southland.
‘‘We are making sure it is all environmental so we do not upset the flora and fauna in the river catchment.’’
Workers at the site had noticed trout swimming under the willows next to the old bridge.