Battered bridge may cause weeks of delays
Commuters told to look at working from home after freak wind blast causes drivers chaotic day
Engineers warn it could take weeks to repair Auckland’s damaged Harbour Bridge, causing potentially lengthy delays for more than 170,000 drivers who cross it daily.
The Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has even called on commuters to consider working from home if possible after motorists endured a day of chaos yesterday because of lane closures on the bridge.
A southbound truck carrying a shipping container was blown sideways by wind gusting up to 127km/h about 11am yesterday.
“The truck striking the bridge has damaged the superstructure, with a steel upright sheared off,” NZTA’s senior journey manager Neil Walker said.
Incredibly, the truck righted itself and its driver was able to drive away.
However, a medium-sized Castle Parcels truck heading north was also caught in the freak wind gusts and blown across two lanes of traffic before toppling onto a movable barrier where it got stuck.
Emergency teams initially closed all bridge lanes heading to the North Shore as they rushed to clear the stricken truck.
The driver was not badly hurt but was taken to hospital as a precaution.
The frightening crashes meant Auckland’s roads and public transport network descended into chaos as traffic banked up for kilometres along the city’s Northern and Northwestern motorways.
Motorists attempting to make their way home to the west and north of the city reported being stuck in traffic for hours.
One frustrated driver returning to the city from Papakura at 5.30pm said he spent 90 minutes driving five blocks down Nelson St.
“I have never seen anything like it,” he said.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff said NZTA gave his team an early report on the bridge damage, reporting that the middle four lanes may have to remain closed for an “extended period”.
NZTA would make a decision about the best way to fix the bridge tomorrow, Goff said.
Walker said engineers’ first assessment of the bridge’s structural damage had indicated “a permanent fix would be a long-term process”.
“The four lanes across the centre span of the bridge will remain closed to traffic for at least several days and potentially weeks,” he said.
“Congestion on the road network is inevitable as we assess the damage and the necessary repairs.”
NZTA recommended Aucklanders consider working from home instead of attempting to commute across the bridge.
The agency also recommended using public transport; the bridge’s two outer “clip-on” lanes in each direction would still be open and Northern Express buses could continue to run.
The outer lanes were safe to use because they had their own supporting structure.
“If you do need to travel, motorists are urged to use the Western Ring Route (SH20, SH16 and SH18) around the harbour,” NZTA said.
On average, more than 170,000 vehicles cross the bridge on weekdays.
Its eight lanes are changed four times a day into different configurations to adjust to peak traffic flows.
The bridge opened in 1959 with four lanes, but these quickly proved not enough. Two clip-on structures were added by 1969, providing two more lanes in either direction.