Coromandel communities are partying in the street as a vital highway link reopens to holiday traffic in time for Christmas, making it easier for families to reconnect and businesses to recover.
The State Highway 25A bridge opened three months early this morning, marking the end of a difficult period for Coromandel residents after the section of road disappeared in a landslip in January during the summer storms.
Gabrielle Deane, owner of Paradise Gym Tairua in the Coromandel gateway town, said emotional locals were hosting the street party this morning to welcome tourists back.
“It’s been really hard being cut off, and we’re just so stoked to have everyone back through Tairua,” she said.
“The town’s motto is ‘stay and play’ and we just [want] everyone to do exactly that.
“It’s really impacted the businesses here. It’s more than just a bridge, it’s reconnecting people and gives us so much hope for the summer.”
Locals, the NZTA and even Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have all praised how the new 124m viaduct bridge was built in record time along a section of SH25A, between Kōpū and Hikuai.
Build teams had initially expected to finish it by March next year.
The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi thanks the public for their patience, but also asked them to resist the urge to stop and sightsee on it as “it’s not safe”.
“As you can guess, traffic will be heavy over the holidays,” it said in a social media post.
“We need you to do your bit to keep everyone moving smoothly through the site — don’t stop, stick to the speed limit, and travel safely through the site.”
“Don’t stop as you’re approaching the bridge or travelling over the bridge. We know you’re keen to see the new bridge and how the land around the bridge has changed following the slip.”
The agency said travellers can instead check out “great drone footage” the agency had posted on its Bay of Plenty social media pages about how the land had changed.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited the site last week and said there the project gave a lot of good lessons on how government can speed up consenting.
“This is a great example of what we want to do across the country,” he said.
“A big part of it is looking at working 24/7 more. We’ve got all the talent and smarts to do it so we need to look at how we can speed things up and get things done.”
Thames-Coromandel District mayor Len Salt said the community were emotional about the reopening.
“It’s been a tough year on so many levels for so many people,” he said.
“Who would’ve thought that a bridge would get such an emotional response from the community it affects. This isn’t about infrastructure. This is about how it affects the community.”
Social media users this morning posted comments full of praise for the NZTA for getting the job done fast.
“Well done on a magnificent effort by all those involved,” one wrote, while a second said: “To all those involved, fantastic job to get this completed by Xmas”.
The news brings a welcome economic boost to the beleaguered Coromandel Peninsula, an area heavily reliant on tourism, which has suffered severe economic downturn on the back of last summer’s cyclones and weather events.
Construction began in June after the Government committed to fund New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi an initial cost estimate of $30-40 million in May, which was later revised to be closer to $50m.
Transport Minister at the time, Michael Wood, said the money for the project would come from the Government’s $250m top-up to the National Land Transport Programme fund, set up to support the recovery.
NZTA Waka Kotahi regional manager Jo Wilton said getting traffic across as soon as possible has always been the aim.
“We know how difficult the highway closure has been on local families, businesses, schools and communities and the impact it’s had on visitors to the region,” she said.
“We’ve built the bridge in record time by accelerating our work programme, with teams working 24-hour shifts both onsite and offsite at Eastbridge in Napier, where the steel girders were manufactured.
“In addition, we used a bridge design we already had and repurposed steel plates which had been purchased for the Minden Bridge on Tauranga’s Takitimu North Link project, meaning we didn’t have a lengthy wait for steel to come in from overseas.”