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Construction is likely to start before the end of next year on a replacement for the rickety one-lane Kopu Bridge - bane of holidaymakers travelling between Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce said last night that he wanted to get the $32 million project running before its scheduled mid-2011 start date. It is expected to take about 18 months to complete the 480-metre replacement.
Mr Joyce said the Government had asked the Transport Agency for a list of midpriced projects which were ready to go as economic stimulus measures, and he understood the 82-year-old bridge was in that category.
He expected to meet the agency this month to confirm a start date, but would not be more specific.
"It is ludicrous this was not sorted out over the previous nine years," he said of the period in which Labour held the Treasury benches.
Correspondents to the Herald have long complained of queues of up to 10km at peak holiday times, when the agency recommends motorists try detours through Paeroa.
The minister acknowledged the lateral thinking of one who suggested peak-flow traffic gain the right of way at holiday periods, and vehicles travelling in the other direction be required to use the detour. But he did not believe that was the optimal solution.
