Growers cut off by ageing bridges

New Zealand could run low on potatoes and other fresh produce if rail overbridges between Ohakune and Rangataua are not repaired, Ruapehu Mayor Don Cameron warns.

Ruapehu District Council has said heavy vehicles can no longer use the timber Mangateitei Rd and Ruapehu Rd overbridges because both had failing components and could collapse under heavy vehicles.

One of the bridges connects noexit Mangateitei Rd — where there are vegetable growing, forestry and stock farming businesses — to SH49.

Chicanes and monitoring cameras have been installed between Ohakune and Rangataua to monitor vehicles.

One of the affected businesses is Kim Young & Sons, which owns most of the land on one side of the road.

It has forestry and farms sheep and beef as well as potatoes and carrots, Scott Young said. He estimated it might provide 15 per cent of the North Island market.

On the same road another grower markets cabbage, cauliflower, parsnips, broccoli and beetroot.

When Kim Young & Sons did logging a year ago it spent $100,000 to build its own private road and railway crossing, because even empty logging trucks were too heavy for the Mangateitei overbridge.

The Ruapehu Rd overbridge can be avoided by taking a longer alternative route, but that would cost producers more.

The council has been unable to unlock the 75 per cent subsidy it needs from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to fund repairs. ■

— Whanganui Chronicle