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A temporary solution that could reopen some lanes on the Auckland Harbor Bridge could be just a few days away, says the New Zealand Transport Agency.
It comes as Auckland commuters face long delays after a freak accident on Friday caused the closure of half the lanes on the city’s harbor bridge.
By 8 a.m., routes into the city were blocked and traffic heading to the bridge from the North Shore queued back to Sunnynook.
Strong gusts of wind threw a truck against a load-bearing steel beam, rendering the center rails useless.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
Auckland Harbor Bridge traffic is piling up just after 7am on Monday, as the center lanes remain closed.
The effects of the closure have spread across Auckland’s already congested motorways and continue to cause long delays and traffic jams.
READ MORE:
* Damage to Auckland Harbor Bridge – How it happened and what needs to be done to repair it
* Damage to Auckland Harbor Bridge: ‘You can’t get out of there forever’
* Auckland Harbor Bridge – Motorists are asked to work from home or avoid the damaged bridge while urgent repair work continues
* Auckland Harbor Bridge center lanes ‘unsafe’ after accident, but no risk of collapse
* Chaos on Auckland Harbor Bridge – overturned truck causes motorway traffic jams
At noon Monday, NZTA said it was focused on doing “everything possible” to reopen the bridge’s center lanes as quickly as possible.
“A temporary solution to reopen some lanes may be possible in a few days, but a permanent repair is weeks away,” he said.
Permanent fastening requires a beam to be designed and fabricated from scratch.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
Travelers have been urged to use public transportation if they cannot work from home.
NZTA is asking people on the North Shore to work from home if possible, or to use the western ring route or buses if not.
At 8am, NZTA said that the southbound SH1 was queuing back to Sunnynook and the northbound SH1 was queuing back to St Mary’s Bay.
The western ring route was also heavy from Hobsonville to Waterview.
NZTA Senior Travel Manager Neil Walker said the congestion had been as expected and showed the importance of people changing their usual travel patterns.
A priority bus lane is being implemented ahead of peak afternoon traffic on State Highway 1 northbound to the bridge.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
It could take weeks to repair the structural damage that occurred after a gust of wind blew a truck onto the harbor bridge.
“The priority lane is to reduce bus congestion to the North Shore and provide more reliable rides for customers.
“This bus priority system will allow buses to access the northbound SH1 entrance ramp on Fanshawe Street through a new priority lane, allowing buses to avoid waiting traffic.”
The highway’s priority lane will merge with regular traffic.
To create this lane, NZTA said the Northbound Curran Street entrance ramp to SH1 is closed to all traffic.
“Motorists who would normally use the Curran Street entrance ramp are advised to follow the signposted detour route to the Fanshawe Street northbound entrance ramp.”
Abigail Dougherty / Stuff
Strong gusts of wind threw a truck against a steel beam that was supporting the load, rendering the center rails useless.
The priority lane will be in place until the bridge is fully operational again, which could take several weeks.
Auckland Transport is urging people to use public transport if they need to travel.
Spokesman Mark Hannan said the agency is “confident” in its available passenger capacity.
Heading into town in the morning, Hannan said the Northern Busway has an excess of 7,000 seats with current service, based on the number of empty seats from last week.
Onewa Rd service has 2,500 additional seats.
Abigail Dougherty / Stuff
A worker who assesses the damage to the bridge after the accident.
Back to shore in the afternoon and evening, Northern Busway has 6,500 additional seats and Onewa Rd service has 3,000 additional seats.
“Keep in mind that the above figures are for seating only, and 10 percent more could be added with standing room.
“We are also planning to increase the off-peak frequency so that more customers can take advantage of our 30% discount on off-peak rates. The ferries are operating as usual and have free seats “
Hannan said people are asked to travel off-peak if possible and to allow more time for their journey as there could be delays in joining the queues to cross the bridge.
Abigail Dougherty / Stuff
It will be necessary to replace the twisted steel structural support member.
Brett Gliddon, general manager of transportation services for NZTA, said a team of about nine structural engineers was working on a solution.
If the previous week’s traffic patterns were to repeat Monday, the result would be severe congestion, he said.
But Gliddon took an optimistic tone when he defended the operation and maintenance of his agency’s bridge, explaining how the situation arose and what should be done.
How exactly did this happen?
At around 11 a.m. Friday, sudden strong gusts brought down two trucks as they crossed the bridge, Gliddon said.
One was at the top of the bridge when it was knocked down by a gust and crashed into a steel beam, twisting the metal and cutting it where it connected to the bridge below the road surface.
Gliddon said the wind was acceptable at 60km / h before it shot out to a 127km / h gust before subsiding again.
“We were hit by an absolutely abnormal gust of wind that caught a truck that was right at the top of the bridge.
“That is really difficult to design.”
The beam did what it was supposed to do, cutting the bolts instead of pulling and damaging another support member, with its load transferred to other supports in the steel truss.
The bridge is still able to stand on its own, but engineers are unwilling to allow traffic on the original inner lanes, which opened in 1959.
The two outer rails on each side, trimmed 10 years after opening, have their own support structure and are not dependent on the damaged truss.
