Auckland Harbor Bridge can no longer be strengthened, traffic could be restricted, says NZTA

Auckland’s aging Harbor Bridge cannot withstand further strengthening and traffic will have to be restricted to maintain its “structural integrity”.

Waka Kotahi says the bridge has already been reinforced several times, but that it is not possible to do it again due to the weight of the steel that would need to be added.

Instead, it will be necessary to introduce “active traffic management”.

A November briefing to Transportation Minister Michael Wood warned that “loading restrictions” would be necessary for the next 20 years, but Waka Kotahi’s general transportation services manager Brett Gliddon hints that it could actually be long before.

Gliddon said active traffic management would not be needed on the bridge within the next 12 to 18 months, but did not elaborate on a timeline.

Regardless of the timeline, talks on restrictions have renewed calls for an alternative port crossing to be prioritized to prevent the city from stalling in the future.

The revelations came yesterday at New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s annual review in a select parliamentary committee.

After a question from National MP Christopher Luxon, Gliddon said it was no longer possible to strengthen the bridge, which is traversed by 170,000 vehicles during the week.

“We think we have strengthened it as much as we could and we cannot add more steel to it … it is counterproductive.”

He said maintaining the “structural integrity of the bridge” could involve restricting heavy vehicles, limiting the lanes they could use, the number of heavy vehicles on the bridge at one time or the time of day they cross.

Road Transport Forum CEO Nick Leggett said the fact that remediation work was no longer an option was concerning given the lack of alternative options and there needed to be urgent plans for another crossing.

“Auckland is a key arterial route through our largest city and our largest economy.

“We do not accept that there is no budget for this, and priority must be given. Any type of construction must start in the next two or three years.”

AA spokesman Barney Irvine said the briefing document highlighted how vulnerable the bridge was and emphasized “the importance of all the discussion about an additional port crossing.”

“That is a project that we cannot allow to deviate.”

The bridge was last upgraded in 2010, during which approximately 900 tons of steel were screwed into the clips to extend the life of the bridge by 20-40 years.

Luxon said it was frustrated that the bridge was nearing the end of its life with no plans for another port crossing.

“There is no future guarantee or commitment to a tunnel, or a second crossing yet. We don’t know if it will be a tunnel or a bridge or something at this point.

“We have a world-class city and in that city, a guy crashes his truck into a bridge and everyone is out of action and uncomfortable for two weeks.”

Auckland came to a standstill last year, and people were asked to work from home, after two trucks crashed into the bridge in gusts of wind of up to 127 km / h, damaging its structural integrity.

National Transportation spokesman Mike Woodhouse said he hoped the government would not wait for the restrictions on the bridge to plan another crossing.

“We’ve been talking about a second port crossing for I don’t know how long. We need to have some clear stakes in the ground.”

He said that the information document, delivered to the National Party through the OIA, should have been a wake-up call for the agency and the Government.

“What we knew is that traffic pressures demanded the need for better access to the port crossing,” he said.

“Now we know that it’s not just about the pressure of congestion, but about lagging infrastructure.”

Transport Minister Michael Wood raised questions about future restrictions on the bridge and the progress of another crossing back to Waka Kotahi.

Waka Kotahi chairman Sir Brian Roche said the agency still needed to determine the form of public transportation that would be used at a second port crossing, which is estimated at several billion dollars.

He said the engineering challenge was immense and would require overseas experience.