Transit Regional Office
Auckland

23 April 2004

MEDIA RELEASE

Partial closure of Te Atatu overbridge in place

Transit New Zealand has closed one lane of the Te Atatu overbridge to heavy vehicles while it examines the extent of damage to the bridge, which was struck by a truck today. The bridge lane remains open to cars and light vehicles and the Northwestern Motorway is unaffected.

Transit Regional Manager Wayne McDonald says the northern lane 1 of the bridge, which spans the Northwestern Motorway, will be closed to heavy traffic until further notice. “We’ve done this as a safety precaution while our bridge engineers determine just how seriously the bridge has been damaged by the strike.”

Mr McDonald said that a transporter carrying a load of 4.9m struck the bridge at about 2pm.

ends