| 15 Southland District Council REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Richard Loader Southland District Council is three years into a ten-year programme that will replace or renew 171 bridges within its region. The Southland District Council is three years into a ten-year programme that will replace or renew 171 bridges within its region. In total Southland has 1121 bridges made up of 842 waterway structures that meet the definition of a bridge, 239 stock underpass’ and 40 cycleway bridge. In perspective, that is about one bridge for every five kilometres of road. The majority of structures are on low volume rural roads and the area does not include Gore District, Invercargill City or any state highway. Hartley Hare, Strategic Manager Transport at Southland District Council, says many of the structures were built around the ‘50s, with construction material ranging from concrete, steel and timber. “For many years we have had a number of bridges with some sort of restriction in place in terms of weight, speed or a combination of both for heavy vehicle activity. “Two years ago, there were seventy-seven such bridges. In 2018/19 we had a look at the 10-year picture and identified 171 structures that potentially needed a reasonable degree of investment, and likely replacement because they were reaching the end of their useful lives. “If we took a 20-year picture, it indicated we had closer to 195 structures. There were also a number of bridges that had restrictions on them that were just reaching the point where maintenance could no longer be economically carried out. We have now closed some of those bridges.” In the 2019/20 financial year, the Council put a plan in place to replace the 171 structures over a ten-year period, at cost of $40 million – not allowing for inflation – funded 48% from Council rates and 52% from Waka Kotahi. “Over the past three years we have spent around $1.65M on repairs and maintenance. For most of the bridges that we are replacing, they are largely structures with timber components including decks and beams that are reaching the end of their useful lives. “We have made reasonable progress over the last three years with thirty bridges fully replaced. A further ten bridges have either been replaced with culverts, divested or washed away and not replaced. Five bridges have had major strengthening carried out.” Hartley says that by the end of the ten years, the Council expects to have worked through the majority of bridge replacements and renewals, but acknowledges that by then more bridges will have reached the end of their useful lives. “To an extent it is a never-ending programme. We have developed a matrix to assist prioritising the bridges that require replacement or repair. “We look at the age of the structure, what sorts of restrictions are already on the bridge and what alternative access is available, if any. We also look at whether it’s light or heavy traffic and its frequency of use. Those bridges that don’t have any alternative access are prioritised above bridges that have a short deter available.” Many of the structures identified for replacement or repair fall at the last mile in a journey, and without them farmers or forestry companies cannot get produce to market; for example milk to the factory or a forestry harvest to the mills. “Taking forestry as an example, fully loaded truck and trailer units cannot get over many Bridges a focus for council of these older structures, and the trucking company has to do multiple trips with partial loads. So, the state of these structures with existing limitations in place creates inefficiencies, which the work we are doing will resolve.” Calling for tenders on the open market, a range of civil contractors have been engaged to carry out the remedial work including SouthRoads, Fulton Hogan and Downer, with more specialised work being done by Concrete Structures. While some of the smaller 6 – 12 metres structures can take between 2 – 3 weeks to repair including removal of the old structure, larger structures can take several months to complete. 267 Tramway Road, Invercargill. Phone (03) 211 6000 - Email southland@fultonhogan.com • CONSTRUCTION • CIVIL • DRAINAGE • SUPPLY AGGREGATES • TRANSPORT & EXCAVATION • LANE GRADING & MAINTENANCE • LINE MARKING • ASPHALT & CHIPSEAL • SWEEPING • TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT • CCTV • HYDROVAC • ENGINEERING & WORKSHOP
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