A freak gust of wind upturning a truck on Auckland Harbour Bridge damaging its centre strut to force lane closures for weeks on end was a disaster waiting to happen and is another example of how we have no Plan B, says Auckland Business Chamber CEO, Michael Barnett.

“It’s been clear for years that Auckland desperately needs a second harbour crossing, but instead of getting on with it we’ve taken an attitude of waiting to ‘cross that bridge’ until the worst happens,” he says.

“Auckland’s recovery from lockdown and getting the city and our economy moving again is now obstructed with major disruptions to commerce, mobility, productivity and commuters, with a request to mitigate the bumper to bumper traffic by staying home – again - because our bridge is broken,” he said.

“We have ambitions to be a worldclass city with worldclass infrastructure and services. Instead the city’s resilience and recovery from Covid is being set back with one incident spotlighting the fragility and vulnerability of one of the our most vital transport lifelines.”

“This cannot happen again. We need commitment to build that second crossing instead of a continuing talk fest with no dates, no signed off plans and no tenders.”

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