A business owner says he could be facing bankruptcy when a major highway is closed for up to a month to replace a 49-year-old bridge.
Onetai Bridge, which is located on State Highway 26 between Pūriri and Hikutaia, has reached the end of its life. Work to replace it begins on January 28 and will involve lane closures for the first two weeks. The road will then be fully closed for up to four weeks from February 10.
The road will reopen when the new bridge deck is in place, although construction work will continue at the site.
New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said the full road closure was necessary due to the narrow width of both the road and the bridge itself.
Since SH26 is the only through-route on the eastern side of the Waihōu River, traffic will need to detour along the western side of the river.
Gary Banger, the owner of the Convenient Cow cafe in Hikutaia, said the road closure could be the end of his business, which was still struggling to recover from Covid-19.
“We’re just not getting just one proper summer where we can just make money,” he said.
“We’re trying whatever we can to get by. But, a road closure…There’s nothing I can do about it. How can I get people in when they have no ways to reach me?”
Gary estimated he would lose around $40,000 worth of business if the road was closed for the full four weeks.
“I’m actually out of options. I got so much stuff sitting around that will just get expired because I’ve got no ways to sell them,” he said.
“Me and my missus, as soon as we saw that, I said, I think we should get out of the business line, just go work for someone else. There’s no point.”
Gary said he was frustrated over the length of time the work was expected to take, and was also upset that he had not been consulted by the transport agency.
“This shouldn’t take four weeks, they should have enough resources,” he said.
“I’m still waiting on NZTA to come and respond to me. I want the NZTA to come and just sit on the chair with me, and see how many people use this road.
“If they are not coming through over here, I got no point of staying open. Every time a local comes in, they say, don’t worry, we will support you. [But] I can’t expect them to spend $1000 with me.”
Graeme Wright, whose transport company is based in Pūriri, said he would also be affected by the closure.
“I’m pretty concerned about it. I’ve been in business here for 55 years and I’ve seen a heck of a lot of changes. I’ve never seen such drastic measures taken to shut a road for a month, a main road, to build a bridge across a drain, because that’s virtually all it is,” he said.
“A farmer could put a bridge across there in a day, and here they want a month to do the same thing.”
Graeme’s 23 trucks regularly travel to Tauranga to pick up loads, and he said the detour would add an extra 40 kilometers to the logbook for each trip.
“Originally when they went to do this they were talking about just putting a bypass through the farm next door, which is right beside the road… next thing we know we’re hit with this road closure. They’ve had no consultation with us.”
Hikutaia School was also facing inconvenience, with three staff and around five children living on the opposite side of Onetai Bridge from the school.
Principal Wayne Whitney was working to find a solution to get everyone to school during the closure, but said he had been aware of the issue for some time.
“[NZTA] started that consultation process late last year, so we’ve had a good heads up about it,” he said.
“We’re thinking about carpooling if we have to drive around. There was talk of trying to get the kids to one side of the neighbouring road that links with the rail trail and then perhaps using our school van to try and pick them up from the other side and carry them to school that way… We’re thinking about what we can do to manage it.”
NZTA’s acting regional manager of infrastructure delivery Darryl Coalter said the agency was aiming to reopen the road as soon as possible.
“Construction works can be impacted by weather and other unforeseen issues… if everything goes as planned and the weather is favourable, it might be less than the four weeks,” he said.
“Replacing bridges is always tricky and invariably involves some road closures, to ensure the work is done safely and efficiently – and within the available funding.
“Onetai is a very small bridge, with narrow road approaches. The project team considered a range of construction options and has developed an approach to get the work done as quickly as possible, using prefabricated bridge deck and other key components to speed construction.
“Given the constrained road environment, providing alternative access would have been extremely costly, taken considerable time and been less safe.”
Darryl said the agency had done its best to ensure minimal disruption, saying businesses and schools were still accessible from either end of the road. He said there had been multiple letterdrops, emails and other consultation with the community near the work site throughout the project.
Coromandel MP Scott Simpson said he felt for the affected businesses, but understood the need for the closure.
“I can’t help but feel sympathy for [Gary] and his business,” Scott said.
“That said, the work is necessary. It’s been planned for a long time, and I’m hopeful that NZTA will be able to complete the work earlier than the four weeks that they have indicated.
“We are fortunate to live in a community that does care, that is acknowledging of the tough times that many local businesses are suffering. And maybe this is a time now to actually show them a little bit of local support.”
