Two additional lanes are now open on the Auckland Harbour Bridge after work to temporarily fix the damaged strut was completed overnight.
A southbound lane in the centre span opened just after 7am and a northbound lane opened just after 8:40am now giving three lanes in each direction.
The lower half of the damaged strut was replaced with a section of freshly fabricated steel.
The work was carried out by specialist bridge engineers and fabricators who have been assessing the damage, designing and manufacturing the new strut, calculating and planning the repair.
“We had perfect weather conditions on the Harbour Bridge overnight and so progress was much faster than we had hoped,” Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency transport services general manager Brett Gliddon says.
“There was very little wind, good temperatures and visibility which meant the team were able to get the new section installed and carry out the testing all in one night.”
“While this is really good news, even with the temporary strut now in place the bridge is still in a more compromised state than usual and loads on the bridge will need to be managed carefully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYPsILyfPvw
“This will remain until the permanent solution is in place and the bridge can support its full weight capacity again,” Gliddon says.
NZTA is now working on a permanent repair of the damage to eventually re-open all lanes on the bridge.
During the overnight repair, all southbound lanes of the bridge into the city centre were closed to allow engineers to take out the damaged piece of steel and install the new section of the strut.
The 22.7m truss, weighing about four tonnes was damaged on Friday when a truck crashed into it after being hit by 127kph wind gusts.
Before re-opening the extra lanes in the centre span, the team completed extensive testing on the bridge, including testing with heavy vehicles.
No overweight vehicles are currently allowed on the bridge and NZTA is advising heavy vehicles to use the Western Ring Route as an alternative until a permanent solution is installed. Buses will continue to use the clip-on lanes.
“In this temporary configuration, the bridge is still not fully operational, and one lane remains closed each way,” Gliddon says.
“Congestion is still expected on all state highways and local roads and we continue to encourage people to consider working from home if possible. For those who must travel, we recommend leaving your cars at home and using public transport.
“Progress is also continuing on the permanent solution. The bulk of this work involves the calculation and peer review of the new permanent strut in relation to how it will impact on the performance of the whole bridge. This includes careful calculations on how to re-balance its load-bearing function.
“The new modelling is necessary because the materials of the new structure will not exactly match those that were installed 60 years ago,” Gliddon says.
