Traffic affected by bridge work

Press, 20 February 1989, Page 3

Traffic affected by bridge work

The State highway at Ten Mile Creek, about 16km north of Greymouth, will be closed this week and in early March to allow the National Roads Board to improve the bridge.

No local detour is available and it will not be possible for any vehicles or pedestrians to cross Ten Mile Creek during the work.

The bridge will be closed three times — from 7 a.m. on Tuesday, February 21, to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22; from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8; and from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 9.

The alternative route between Greymouth and Westport is via State highway 7 (Grey Valley) to Reefton, State highway 69 to Inangahua Junction and

State highway 6 (Lower Buller Gorge).

The existing bridge, built in 1925, is a singlelane structure comprising a 24m-long central timber truss span and short timber land spans. The National Roads Board said the hardwood structure was at the end of its economic life and had been rapidly deteriorating under heavy loads.

A replacement structure on a high level line across the gully could not be justified economically with the projected traffic flows, said the board. The existing bridge will be improved, the truss and existing land spans replaced and the deck widened to provide adequate road width for heavy traffic. It will remain a single-lane bridge.