Historic timber viaducts saved in funding deal

The Percy Burn viaduct. Photo / DOC

Four giant timber viaducts built in Southland nearly a century ago have been saved in a collaborative funding deal.

The four viaducts were built in the rugged Waitutu Forest on the south coast of the Fiordland National Park in the early 1920s as part of a timber tramline to the Port Craig logging and sawmill operation.

The sawmills were dismantled after the Great Depression and in the 1990s the viaducts became part of the Hump Ridge Track.

The largest viaduct, the Percy Burn - the highest timber trestle bridge in the Southern Hemisphere - had to be closed in May last year because of safety concerns with the decay and corrosion of the key structural elements.

The four viaducts have Category 1 Historic Places Trust registration and are listed as one of New Zealand's top 50 engineering structures.

They will now be restored thanks to an agreement between the Department of Conservation (DOC), the Southland District Council and the Port Craig Viaduct Trust.

Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith made the announcement yesterday.

"We need to restore and protect these massive viaducts as a tribute to the incredible engineering feats of our pioneering ancestors," Dr Smith said.

"They are a spectacular feature of the Hump Ridge Track along the south coast of Fiordland that generations of New Zealanders and international visitors must continue to be able to enjoy."

The cost of restoring the viaducts has been put at $480,000. DOC will provide a $160,000 boost towards the work over the next financial year.

Funding problems were difficult to resolve because no one organisation had responsibility and parties could argue for years over who should be funding what, Dr Smith said.

"I admire the typical southern pragmatism that has delivered this long-term funding partnership where costs will be shared one third each between the Government, the council and community.

"This agreement is particularly good for the Tuatapere Hump Track Charitable Trust and Southland tourism, as the option of rerouting the track around the viaducts would take away some of the 'wow' factor of the Hump Ridge Track experience."