Crew ‘going hard’ to have bypass opened by April 1

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The team putting together the bypass to enable traffic to access the East Coast past the Hikuwai No.1 Bridge between Tolaga Bay and Tokomaru Bay expect to have it open by April 1.

The bridge was taken out by Cyclone Gabrielle and Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency has plans to instal a Bailey bridge there in the next couple of months.

Tolaga Bay-based Kuru Contracting has worked with the landowners the Pourau Incorporation on getting the bypass established.

Company general manager Ma Parata today said they had been “going hard” each day to get the three kilometre-long bypass completed.

“At this stage we anticipate having it finished by the first of April.”

The bypass skirts along the banks of the Hikuwai River around a loop in the river at that point, to connect up both ends of the destroyed bridge.

Once completed, the project will mean southbound loaded and heavier traffic on State Highway 35 will be able to use the bypass.

Other traffic can use the Bailey bridge being installed by Waka Kotahi.

It has been stated it could be three years before a replacement bridge is completed at Hikuwai No.1.