New Kāeo Bridge set to open in the Far North

Aerial view of the new bridge and roundabout under construction on State Highway 10, plus the old one-lane bridge over the Kāeo River. Photo / NZTA

By Peter de Graaf - RNZ

A long-awaited two-lane bridge will open in the Far North next week - but initially it will take traffic in one direction at a time, just like the old one.

The new Kāeo Bridge will partially open on the morning of Friday, February 2.

A spokeswoman for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said it would operate with traffic management and a one-way system while the new bridge was completed and the old one demolished.

Work was also continuing on the road approaches to the new bridge.

She urged motorists to take care while they adjusted to the changes and road crews were still working in the area.

Work on the $40 million project, which includes a roundabout on the Kāeo side of the river to improve traffic flow, started in 2021.

The new bridge is twice as long and wide as the old bridge, and also significantly higher to protect it from flooding.

The old one-way Kāeo Bridge has long been a summer chokepoint on State Highway 10 between the Bay of Islands and Doubtless Bay. It was also too narrow for some loads.

Replacing it was part of the 10 bridges pledge of the 2015 Northland byelection, in which then-Transport Minister Simon Bridges promised to upgrade 10 single-lane bridges on the region’s Twin Coast Discovery Route.

It is the fourth of the 10 bridges to be completed. The first two, on State Highway 12 at Matakohe, were completed in mid-2019.

The 107-metre-long, two-lane Taipā Bridge, on State Highway 10 in Doubtless Bay, was opened in December 2019.