NZ Transport Agency Waikato and Bay of Plenty Regional Office

21 June 2013

Bridge inspection work on Bay of Plenty highways - minor delays expected

The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) is advising drivers to allow extra time for their journeys as annual bridge inspections are being carried out across the Bay of Plenty next week, which will cause minor delays. 

The inspections will be carried out on selected bridges on State Highways 2 (SH2), SH30, SH33, and SH35 until Friday 28 June.

The bridges will be inspected in the following order starting from Monday 24 June:

• SH2 Kaituna River Bridge

• SH33 Mourea Bridge

• SH30 Rangitaiki River Bridge

• SH2 Waiotahi Bridge

• SH2 Waioeka Opotiki Bridge

• SH35 Haparapara Bridge.

NZTA’s Bay of Plenty state highways manager, Brett Gliddon says a temporary speed limit and a manual stop/go traffic management will be used to direct vehicles around the inspection area.

“These inspections will be carried out from a truck with a mobile platform to allow staff to inspect areas not accessible by foot.”

He says the inspections are carried out as part of the agency’s regular bridge inspection programme. The work is weather dependent.  In areas with high traffic volumes, the inspections will take place between 9.00am and 4.00pm to reduce impact on peak traffic periods. 

‘We know that some of these highways can be quite busy, we are confident these delays will be minimal and will be monitoring traffic movements to ensure only minor disruption for drivers.”

“We want to thank drivers in advance for their patience while we get this important inspection work underway, if motorists want to find out more about the timing of these inspections they should go to the NZTA’s website at www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/current-conditions; or free phone 0800 4HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49).”

The agency also uses other technology to provide information to enable drivers to make better informed choices about their travel.  On The Move is a free service which enables people to sign up for information about crashes, road works and driving conditions on their frequently used routes - to sign up, go to www.onthemove.govt.nz.  

ENDS

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