Increased traffic prompts new St Arnaud bridges
A 15-fold increase in the number of trucks using State Highway 63 near St Arnaud has prompted a $900,000 investment into three new bridges.
State Highway 63 has seen a huge increase in overall traffic after being designated as an alternative route to State Highway 1 following the Kaikoura earthquake.
New Zealand Transport Agency figures reveal the number of vehicles using the route has increased from an average of 300 per day, to 2000 per day, a six-fold increase in traffic numbers.
At its peak on December 27, the road had 4000 vehicles travel along it.
Building and Construction Minister and Nelson MP Nick Smith said he had heard concerns from several Nelson and Tasman residents about safety on the road given the increased traffic on existing one-way bridges.
Three new bridges have been built to allow a two-way flow of traffic across Buller River, Speargrass Creek, and Homestead Creek, each at a cost of $300,000 which included approaches and guard rails.
‘‘The benefits of these new bridges is firstly a safety dividend, in that people are not having to stop to allow for the opposite traffic,’’ Smith said.
‘‘I’ve heard of near-misses where some of the traditional State Highway [users] are not used to one-way bridges and obviously it’s of particular concern to the St Arnaud and Upper Buller communities who are using this road regularly.’’
He said constituents had told him traffic had been building up before the bridges, leaving queues of 10 to 15 cars waiting to cross.
Smith said the Buller and Homestead bridges were now open and the Speargrass Creek bridge would open in a couple of weeks.
He had huge admiration for the contractors and engineers at NZTA for having addressed the issue so quickly.
‘‘I used to be a bridge builder, my family are all bridge builders, normally bridges can take years to build and construct, to have these three bridges built within three months after the Kaikoura quake is an awesome effort.’’
Smith said the latest report to the Government indicated large landslides north of Kaikoura were likely to keep State Highway 1 closed for a year, and had reinforced the need to make the alternative route safer.
‘‘I would still urge people using the alternative route to recognise it was not designed for the traffic volumes that it has ... people should take extra care,’’ Smith said.
A senior staff member at Alpine Lodge in St Arnaud said it had been a big change for the small community.
‘‘I can’t pull out from work to go home just like that, I have to wait for traffic,’’ she said.
But she said St Arnaud was making the best of it and had benefited from extra through-traffic through the town.
Clinker Cafe’s Angelina Stasiak said they had been kept busy with travellers who passed through St Arnaud.
‘‘We’re not having those days where we’re really quiet, it’s just a constant dribble of people coming through,’’ Stasiak said.
She said she was pleased to hear about the new bridges, as they had heard many stories about close calls on the stretch of road.
‘‘People are getting impatient, they don’t want to sit behind somebody and they’re really taking risks and you just hear it from person after person, they’ve seen a close call or they’ve seen someone do something super stupid.’’
She said the construction on the road had meant the cafe had been booked out for dinners for the next two months, all for workers from Fulton Hogan.
‘‘It’s good because it’s giving us customers in the evenings every day for the next two months, but the flipside is we’re not open for the general public in the evenings now because we can’t cater for 40 or 50 workmen as well as the public,’’ Stasiak said.
The new Buller and Homestead bridges were officially opened by Nick Smith and National Party West Coast-based MP Maureen Pugh yesterday.