New bridge over troubled waters

It’s sad to see the Baltimore bridge disaster — my thoughts go out to all the families of the lost ones.

Here in New Zealand, we have a similar structure in Auckland called the Harbour Bridge, possibly one of the most critical sections of road in the whole country. Just look what happens when it’s closed — absolute chaos.

So imagine something similar happened to our bridge. Instant, complete gridlock, end of story. Game over. Our bridge is near the end of its life. It has served us well. So what’s next?

Days before the last election, Chris Hipkins released a proposal to bore three underground tunnels to Takapuna for light rail, bikes, walking and buses which would have cost $30 billion-$50 billion (who knows?). With the implosion and self-destruction of the Labour Party following the election, it appears this plan is dead under the water.

Here is my solution. Build a bridge, the same as the existing one, right beside it on the eastern side.

Graft it into the existing state highway. This will save billions and future-proof this vital connection.

No consultants, engineers, expensive drawings; all the plans, drawings and engineering reports exist on file. This would free up the existing bridge to allocate two lanes for the push bike riders, runners, scooter riders, cyclists on e-bikes, and people riding mobility scooters, go-karts, horses etc wanting to get to work every day.

The last time I checked, the Super City’s council is broke, and the Government is $100b in debt and going backwards. This is the most economical solution. Time waits for no one.