Fibre bypass at Hikuwai Bridge No.1 the latest step in ‘vast and ongoing restoration effort’: Chorus

DOWN BUT NOT OUT: Hikuwai Bridge No 1 collapsed in Cyclone Gabrielle in February, taking with it critical fibre connection for the East Coast. A fibre bypass has been completed. Picture by Rory O’Sullivan, Chorus

A new fibre bypass has been completed next to Hikuwai Bridge No.1 on State Highway 35, 17 km north of Tolaga Bay.

It is a “significant step” towards bolstering the durability of a core fibre network repair in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, in Tairawhiti, says Chorus.

The bridge collapsed in the cyclone in February, taking with it the fibre cable.

The restoration work has been completed by Chorus, in partnership with its field service partner Downer.

“The completed project is the latest step in a vast and ongoing restoration effort following the devastating impact of the February cyclone on our network,” said Chorus chief executive J B Rousselot.

He said the Hikuwai Bridge core fibre repair was one of several instances where fast, temporary fixes had to be made immediately after the cyclone.

“Some of these fixes now require more resilient and robust solutions to be put in place,” Mr Rousselot said.

Technicians put in a temporary fibre route immediately after the storm and flooding.

“However, they have now installed a more robust interim connection over the Hikuwai River, making room for the construction of a new Bailey bridge.”

Over three days, teams performed preparatory groundwork to suspend 800 metres of fibre between newly installed poles to carry the cable across the Hikuwai River to the west of the collapsed bridge.

Splicing technicians then cut the existing fibre during a two-hour outage before reconnecting it to the new cable at the northern and southern ends of the river crossing.

“It was a big team effort,” said Downer field service technician Rhys Hopkins.

“None of us could have done it without everyone else chipping in.”

Local help also played a vital role, with cut-off residents from Tolaga Bay and Tokomaru Bay quick to offer their services to the technicians flying in by helicopter each day following the cyclone.

“There’s just heaps of manaakitanga here,” said Downer employee Hamish Maxwell.

“They talk about the people on the Coast being friendly — they are awesome. Anywhere you stopped, you got help. Typical Coast hospitality. ‘Anything you want, we can get it.’  ‘Ah, we could need a digger at some stage’. Then a 40-tonne digger turns up for us to locate our duct with,” Hamish said, about the days immediately after the cyclone.

The damage inflicted by Cyclone Gabrielle caused 10 significant fibre cuts across the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions.

Temporary fixes, which are gradually being made more secure as safety and access permit, saw connectivity restored within a week.

From a peak of 23,000, there are now no outstanding residential fibre outages relating to the cyclone.

Just over 100 household copper connections are still affected from a peak of around 25,000.

These relate to three damaged copper cabinets, a reduction from a peak of over 500 cabinets. One of the cabinets remains inaccessible due to sewage contamination.

Five core fibre faults were identified after the cyclone, some with multiple cuts.

Three were fixed within 48 hours. However, two impacted fixed and mobile connectivity in Gisborne.

Chorus’ attention has turned to securing these repairs ahead of full restoration. In some cases, this mahi is expected to take months.

“The Hikuwai connection is fantastic progress given the circumstances and the environments our teams are working in. But when you see the damage still impacting our network, you know there’s a long road ahead,” Mr Rousselot said.

“Chorus and our field partners are fully committed to this next phase of restoration - and we won’t stop until more robust and reliable solutions are in place for all our temporary fixes,” he said.