New bridges near Pass

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 2

New bridges near Pass

Two new bridges will be built near Arthur’s Pass township. The new bridges will replace existing fords and timber by-pass bridges at Greyneys Creek and Halpin Creek.

Contracts for building the bridges will be released by the Ministry of Works and Development soon. The Arthur’s Pass township, headquarters of the National Park, suffers from poor access in the east. During periods of heavy rain the Greyneys Creek and Halpin Creek fords are closed and, on occasions, the approaches to the by-pass bridges have been washed out.

The by-passes were erected in 1972-73 from used

materials in an attempt to improve the highway as a stop-gap measure until permanent structures were built.

These by-pass bridges were load-restricted to 70 per cent of class 1 roading. The environmental impact assessment was prepared by the Ministry of Works in April, 1981, and the proposal, supported by the Arthur’s Pass National Park Board, was approved by the National Roads Board in July, 1981. The new bridge at Greyneys Creek will be a single span, two-way structure, on the line of the existing bypass bridge. During construction, access will be via the existing ford where a

culvert has been installed to handle normal flows.

The new bridge at Halpin Creek will be a a threespan, two-way structure, in line with the existing ford. During construction of the new bridge, traffic will use the existing by-pass bridge now capable of carrying class 2 traffic. Traffic will continue to use the by-pass until the new bridge is opened in about 13 months.

The final alignment of the bridges and approaches has been chosen to cause the least disruption to existing vegetation. A replanting programme will seek to Blend the new works into the existing environment, restoring the natural pattern of vegetation.