Bailey bridge opening ‘huge milestone’ for Coast

The Bailey bridge to temporarily replace the Hikuwai No.1 bridge on State Highway 35 destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle, will open for traffic next week.

It comes four months after the cyclone caused major devastation across the East Coast and having the Bailey bridge open will be the last reconnection on SH35.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said yesterday the Bailey bridge will be open for road users from 8am next Thursday, June 15.

The bridge will be officially opened at a blessing ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.

Waka Kotahi regional manager of maintenance and operations Jaclyn Hankin said the opening would be a huge milestone for the region’s response efforts.

“Like so much of our recovery work over the past few months, the work at Hikuwai wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work from our contractors or the support from communities up and down SH35.

“We know the delays to people’s daily travel have been disruptive and frustrating and we’re looking forward to restoring this key state highway connection next week,” Ms Hankin said.

As with the recently opened Waikare Gorge Bailey bridge on State Highway 2 between Wairoa and Napier, this bridge will be open 24/7 to vehicles up to 50 MAX.

This means school buses, stock trucks, freight trucks and some forestry trucks can use the bridge. The bridge will be one lane.

“A temporary speed limit will be in place for the bridge with traffic management in place to guide road users across

safely.”