Auckland Regional Office

7 February 2007

Media Release

Transit working to reopen bridge near Cape Reinga

Transit New Zealand engineers flown to inspect flood damage in the Far North have found a section of State Highway 1 washed away at the southern end of the Mitimiti Bridge, north of Te Kao. The bridge itself has also suffered minor cracking on its southern abutment. Earlier it had been feared that the bridge itself might have been extensively damaged.

Operations Manager, Joseph Flanagan, says a team of road contractors will start working tomorrow (Thursday 8 Feb) on restoring the highway and repairing the bridge. He says depending on the availability of material the work could take up to the middle of next week to complete but he is hoping it will be done sooner.

‘Teams of contractors will work non-stop to repair the road and the bridge,’ he says. He says the fact that the bridge is not badly damaged is good news as fitting a temporary bridge would have taken much longer than repairing the road and the cracks. ‘Tomorrow, we will also investigate the chance of putting a detour for traffic in place via a nearby forest road.’

The road workers will also repair other parts of the state highway in the area that have been damaged by the recent flooding but this will not prevent traffic from using the road. Mr Flanagan says Transit is keeping close contact with the Far North Civil Defence, the Far North District Council and the Police.

ENDS

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