Brian Rudman: Outwit bike protest with bridge walk

It does seem a shame that through the lack of anything better, the 50th birthday of the Auckland Harbour Bridge at the end of this month, is likely to be remembered solely for the anti-celebration of a bunch of bike fanatics. Hopefully the bikers' threatened mass invasion of the bridge on Sunday, May 24, will persuade the bridge authorities to have a rethink.

Reading through the reports, the big issue seems to be cost. Apparently, letting pedestrians on to a clip-on for a few hours will cost $1.2 million - though there's no breakdown of this cost. But even if this exorbitant sum can't be pared back, this is still less than $5 a head for the 320,000 pedestrians the officials are predicting, could turn up. So why not dig out the old toll booths or borrow some plastic buckets and charge accordingly. The fee could include rides on buses to and from the bridge and a donation to Starship or some other worthy cause.

Personally, I'm not big on anniversaries, and the thought of trekking up and over the bridge and back again does nothing for me. But elsewhere in the world, such walks have been hugely popular. In 1987, for example, on the 50th anniversary of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, 250,000-300,000 pedestrians had packed on to the bridge by 9am. Concerned organisers had to hastily suspend the free bus service to the bridge. An estimated further 400,000 spectators were left to watch from surrounding viewpoints. Pictures show the curved bridge roadway temporarily flattened by the crowds, though engineers claim it was all safe.

In the planning stages of that walk, there had been much public concern about the inconvenience of closing the only traffic route between North Bay and San Francisco. The solution was to close the bridge between 6am and 10am only.

In a report to Transit New Zealand board members last August, officials borrowed from this San Francisco experience and suggested a partial closure of the bridge early on the morning of Saturday, May 30, the bridge's actual birthday. Instead of fully closing it, as happened with the Golden Gate Bridge, it was proposed that pedestrians be restricted to the eastbound clip-on only, leaving the rest of the bridge for vehicles.

While noting the risk of "harmonic vibrations" shaking the bridge - triggered by large numbers of pedestrians walking in step - the report said "these issues can be managed".

And it wouldn't be the first time. For the past 16 years, the two western clip-on lanes have been closed annually to allow competitors in the Auckland Marathon to cross from the North Shore to Auckland City. The officials reported that "the closure of two of eight lanes... has very little effect on motorists using the remaining six lanes. During last year's marathon, motorists were not delayed and no queuing was observed on the AHB or approach roads."

In 2007 it cost marathon organisers $30,000 to prepare and implement a traffic plan. Their event had an upper limit of 7500 participants.

The experts were less sanguine about letting cyclists on the clip-on. One worry was narrow bike tyres getting stuck in deck expansion joints. Another was that the "relatively low" side rails "would in all probability not prevent a crashed cyclist from toppling over the rail and dropping into the harbour below." The way things are going, we might find out later this month how accurate this prediction is. Both during the great land march of 1975 and the 2004 hikoi, police, in the interests of keeping the peace, over-rode objections from the bridge authorities, and told them to let the protesters across. If the "Get Across" bike-led protesters get a sufficiently large group together later this month, history might just repeat itself.

The alternative for the Transport Authority is to outsmart the protesters and engulf their ragtag gang with an officially sanctioned walk-in.

I won't be there. Mornings are not my best time. Especially not 7am. But you only have to look at the crowds that turn out for the Round the Bays Fun Run each year to know that many Aucklander do enjoy a bit of early morning mass bonding. And as long as the bridge's main function as a state highway is not compromised, where's the harm?