The project was accounted for in total recovery funding of $634m allocated for state highway work in the two regions since the February 2023 cyclone, and was “quite a decent chunk of the funding”.
The original idea to also replace the No 2 bridge - which wasn’t damaged in the cyclone - was to match the height of the new No 1 bridge and protect it from future weather.
NZTA owner interface manager Scott Elwarth said there were complexities, timing and cost issues leading to a single bridge replacement project.
Savings could be spent elsewhere on the roading network, he said.
Councillor Josh Wharehinga said he appreciated the work carried out on State Highway 35 but he “wondered about” the compromises made because of budgetary constraints.
Elwarth said the NZTA/TREC scope was to return the state highway to two lanes “largely in the position where it is now”.
Originally funding was being sought for realignments and enhancements from Hawke’s Bay to State Highway 35.
“That’s not where we are now.”
Questioned about the cost of the Hikuwai bridge, Elwarth said it was more than pricing a steel bridge.
There were costs in bringing it to site, transportation, earthworks and site management.
‘You still have to build it.”
Bayley said there had been big and costly changes in the seismic design, while there were 40 metres of sediment to pile through.
The piles would make the bridge much stronger than the original design.
“It was never thought that there would be the level of debris in the catchment when it was built.”
Cr Ron Telfer said councillors were “getting it in the ear” with TREC changing plans, costs, communication issues and contractors asking where the work was.
Councillors heard Budget 2024 funding of $162m for state highways in Tairāwhiti would include repairing the Mangahauini Gorge on SH35 between Tokomaru Bay and Te Puia Springs, while work had been paused on replacing the Waikare Bridge at Putorino.
Elwarth said $250m for Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, along with $384m allocated last year, would allow NZTA and Transport Recovery East Coast (TREC) to fully fund the recovery programme.
But last year’s $384m only equated to $352m for state highways in the two regions, after NZTA took 9% ($32m) for project development costs.
Recovery work restored state highways to their pre weather-event condition, which included the reinstatement of two-lane highways.
TREC would continue to repair state highways as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Speaking about the Mangahauini Gorge, Elwarth said the highway had effectively been put back where it had previously been.
If the Mangahauini bridge was replaced it would be much stronger than previously as it would not be built by the standards of the 1960s or 1970s.
But it would still basically be “a road in a river”.
The road was on the river’s edge.
When the river flooded, the road would flood.
Bayley said there would be a high risk if the road was realigned, as there had been historic large landslides on both sides of the river.
Councillors heard there had been plans for the Waikare Bridge, to build a reinforced concrete bridge at the bottom of the gorge.
A pause had been put on such plans in anticipation of new funding becoming available in September.
Investigation and detailed design work continues on a 4km Waikare Gorge realignment project that would involve a new 160m bridge over the gorge on SH2 and bypass Putorino, south of Wairoa. Construction funding has not yet been approved but submissions closed on NZTA’s publicly notified resource consent application for the project in March 2024. construction would be expected to take at least three years.
